Hoi An is doing an all-out activity on improving the tourism environment

DNHN - Mr. Nguyen Van Lanh, Vice Chairman of the Hoi An City People's Committee, stated that Hoi An will not sell tickets on May 15 this year. This practice dates back to 1995. Thus, the sale of package tickets to Area 1 has occurred for nearly three decade

According to TTO, Vice Chairman of the Hoi An City People's Committee Nguyen Van Lanh stated that the policy of collecting entrance fees will continue because it is consistent with the principles of heritage protection and is supported by UNESCO.

Under the direction of the provincial People's Committee of Quang Nam, Hoi An is engaged in a comprehensive effort to enhance the tourism environment. Particularly, environmental improvement has numerous issues, and Hoi An is prioritizing the implementation of certain outstanding issues.

According to Nguyen Van Lanh, vice chairman of the Hoi An City People's Committee, Hoi An is a heritage city with a living heritage. A population of over a thousand ancient houses is well-preserved thanks to a strong sense of community and a wealth of resources collected from ticket sales and then extracted for restoration.

It can be said that Hoi An has successfully implemented the "taking relics to raise relics" model, as it is impossible to have a beautiful and unique old town without the money contributed by visitors through the purchase of admission tickets. This is also a widespread practice in many regions of the globe.

Hoi An has been assigned to two non-business units for a long time, including the Hoi An Cultural Heritage Management and Conservation Center; the Hoi An Culture, Sports and Broadcasting Center is responsible for keeping the old town warm and maintained. All operating expenses are covered by admission fees.

First, Hoi An has chosen the year 2023 to improve the tourism environment in the areas of urban order, visitor safety, spatial order, environmental sanitation, and landscape. The year's theme is the restoration of urban order and urban beauty.

The second objective is to expand the peak campaign to clean the sidewalks, especially in the old town, to the surrounding areas. Consequently making the old district more respectable, clean, and beautiful.

The third objective is to enlarge Phan Chau Trinh pedestrian street, thereby strengthening the management plan and selling admission tickets. The reason is that in recent years, the epidemic has hurt the area, and the locality has "dropped" tickets. As a result, tourists have visited the old town for free in the past.

However, as tourism is the primary source of income for the local population and the state, management concerns must be closely monitored. Hoi An not only has an old town but also numerous neighboring areas, so the locality not only wishes to tighten up in this area but also focuses on the old town based on the overall relationship with the overall vision. However, it must affect the external reciprocal relationship.

Hoi An's revenue has been small over the years, but the community is still attempting to maintain it; the ticket price is still reduced, and there is no budget, but they are still operating. This demonstrates that the government and people of Hoi An are not required to bring economic benefits or prioritize budgetary concerns, even though the budget is essential for local operations.

For example, in 2022, large parking lot statistics indicate that tours have 1,530,000 visitors, but only approximately 350,000 people purchase tickets to visit at the 1/5th level. Unfairly, the city must expend a great deal of effort and manpower to serve so many tourists.

If this situation persists, not only will revenue be lost, but it will also have a negative impact. Therefore, it is essential to restructure and expand revenue sources. Also included are the development of new products and the enhancement of service quality.

In addition, the expansion of space to Phan Chau Trinh Street is intended to follow the management mechanism of Area 1, thereby adding "breathing space" to the old town area and not generating additional revenue.

Mr. Nguyen Van Lanh, Vice Chairman of the Hoi An City People's Committee, stated that Hoi An will not sell tickets on May 15 this year. This practice dates back to 1995. Thus, the sale of package tickets to Area 1 has been conducted for nearly 30 years, and the ticket price and purchase structure have been adjusted seven times, with the most recent adjustment occurring in 2012, by a resolution of the Provincial People's Council.

There was a fierce conflict between the State of Hoi An Town and the business community at the time, even though tourism had not yet developed significantly.

Because Hoi An has demonstrated that selling individual tickets for each monument results in a significant loss of capital compared to selling tour packages. At that time, the province had two barriers to collecting fees from individuals at local entry and exit points and then moved into the area for visitors to the old town for Area 1.

Since then, the method of ticket sales has been modified seven times. In addition, the structure of ticket boxes has evolved, and there are now 25 ticket boxes, whereas previously there were more than 10 ticket boxes. In particular, these locations sell tickets not only for State-run attractions but also for collective and private monuments. Even more, the municipality has a preferential policy for private monuments that are taking relics to raise relics so that they can earn a living and receive 10-13% of ticket sales as support.

Mr. Lanh emphasized that this demonstrates Hoi An is not required to use the entire budget.

Mr. Lanh also explained that ticket sales have existed for a long time but have been repeated up until now, stirring up public opinion due to the COVID-19 pandemic (from the end of 2019 to the end of 2021). As a result, the majority of the Hoi An venue was left empty, with no attendees. Even after applying reduction measures, tickets are waived. Since March 2022, when it reopened, however, Hoi An has experienced a tourism boom due to an influx of visitors.

"However, according to preliminary parking lot statistics for 2022, the total number of visitors to the old town will exceed one million, but only 300,000 customers will purchase tickets. So we lose 1/5. And from 2019 and prior, we lost forty percent "added Mr. Lanh.

Many travel agencies have not purchased tickets for guests in a very long time. When transporting visitors to the ancient city of Hoi An, the units frequently do not provide any specific instructions.

Without a ticket, visitors are unable to discover the true value of the space in Hoi An's ancient town, which they would have otherwise appreciated.

"In addition to fostering other revenue sources, the city will implement measures to prevent revenue loss, such as tightening the sale and control of tickets and handling cases of deliberately sending passengers underground with extreme severity. from entrance tickets to please guests to leave; It is not possible to let Hoi An's image in the eyes of tourists deteriorate due to a ticket "She shared.

"The primary objective is to create a dignified destination so that tourism in Hoi An is more organized, fair, and equal. Due to the desire to serve all visitors to Hoi An in the finest manner possible. Mr. Lanh added, "They will feel satisfied, experience, discover, and comprehend Hoi An better."

Buu Hoang