Hanoi: “It was really a terrible trip,” Ha said. The trip was in trouble from the start, with the tourists getting stuck in a horrible traffic jam on National Highway 2B that kept them from their destination.
“The traffic jam that day really taught me how bad traffic could be,” Ha said.
“The ones people experience in Hanoi or any other city around the world is nothing. It was really a disaster.
“It went on for kilometres. Tourists who had only hoped to enjoy a relaxing visit to Tam Dao had to sit in the standstill for hours.”
The trip only got worse from there. Ha was even angrier when speaking about his family’s experience on the cable car.
“When we were halfway to the top of the mountain, the cable car suddenly stopped,” he said.
“It was terrifying. People were screaming and everyone thought we were in real danger until an electricity cut was announced. We had to wait for one hour hanging there in the middle of the sky.”
Ha said that while these might have been isolated incidents, their real cause was the mass influx of tourists to the Tam Dao summer resort town during national holidays.
His experience is just one example of the consequences of overcrowding at tourist sites.
Like Tam Dao, many other famous tourist spots across the country such as Sapa and Halong Bay in the north, Danang, Hue and Dalat in the central region and the Central Highlands have suffered from similar problems, particularly during the high season for tourism.
Over the last several years, the Vietnamese tourism industry has been posting remarkable growth.
The number of visitors from abroad and domestic travellers has been steadily climbing, bringing higher incomes for those in the tourism sector.
But the flip side of this impressive development is greater challenges with overcrowding and the upkeep of tourist destinations.
Most experts say the increase in the number of tourists is positive for the sector but some have expressed fears that it may have reached its saturation point and the growth is not sustainable.
Ngo Hoai Chung, vice-chairman of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said sites were especially overloaded during national holidays because of an imbalance in supply and demand and a lack of choices.
“Tourists are often affected by ‘crowd psychology’,” Chung told (New Hanoi) newspaper.
“That means they follow each other to rush to tourist spots and areas where service capacity cannot meet demand, causing overloading.”
“When overloading occurs, it means the travel experience is not guaranteed to meet expectations, service quality is degraded and cheating, fraud and inflated prices are more likely,” the official added.
Nguyen Thuy, a marketing officer from Bao Son Travel, said overcrowding at popular destinations had a serious negative impact on tours for both foreign and domestic travellers.
“Many foreign tourists – including those arriving from China by land and those flying in from other countries – rush to Danang and Nha Trang, causing overloading,” Thuy said.
According to Thuy, Vietnamese tourists usually choose to travel during the peak season in May, June and July, adding the strain on tourism services during these months.
“In peak months, an overloaded tourism system is unavoidable,” Thuy said. “Some places such as the beaches of Sam Son, Cat Ba and Halong are terribly crowded and visitors have to wait four or five hours to get on board on a vessel to reach the sites.”
This overcrowding also puts a strain on tour companies, forcing them to mobilise their resources to salvage the experience for guests.
To avoid the situation, Chung said that in the coming high season, visitors should collect information about the places they want to visit so they understand where they are going.
The tourism authority official suggested that before travelling, tourists should carefully prepare for their stay by planning their transportation, accommodation and restaurants.
They should avoid impromptu travel because it makes it more likely they will encounter unexpected incidents. — Vietnam News/Asia News Network
“The traffic jam that day really taught me how bad traffic could be,” Ha said.
“The ones people experience in Hanoi or any other city around the world is nothing. It was really a disaster.
“It went on for kilometres. Tourists who had only hoped to enjoy a relaxing visit to Tam Dao had to sit in the standstill for hours.”
The trip only got worse from there. Ha was even angrier when speaking about his family’s experience on the cable car.
“When we were halfway to the top of the mountain, the cable car suddenly stopped,” he said.
“It was terrifying. People were screaming and everyone thought we were in real danger until an electricity cut was announced. We had to wait for one hour hanging there in the middle of the sky.”
Ha said that while these might have been isolated incidents, their real cause was the mass influx of tourists to the Tam Dao summer resort town during national holidays.
His experience is just one example of the consequences of overcrowding at tourist sites.
Like Tam Dao, many other famous tourist spots across the country such as Sapa and Halong Bay in the north, Danang, Hue and Dalat in the central region and the Central Highlands have suffered from similar problems, particularly during the high season for tourism.
Over the last several years, the Vietnamese tourism industry has been posting remarkable growth.
The number of visitors from abroad and domestic travellers has been steadily climbing, bringing higher incomes for those in the tourism sector.
But the flip side of this impressive development is greater challenges with overcrowding and the upkeep of tourist destinations.
Most experts say the increase in the number of tourists is positive for the sector but some have expressed fears that it may have reached its saturation point and the growth is not sustainable.
Ngo Hoai Chung, vice-chairman of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said sites were especially overloaded during national holidays because of an imbalance in supply and demand and a lack of choices.
“Tourists are often affected by ‘crowd psychology’,” Chung told (New Hanoi) newspaper.
“That means they follow each other to rush to tourist spots and areas where service capacity cannot meet demand, causing overloading.”
“When overloading occurs, it means the travel experience is not guaranteed to meet expectations, service quality is degraded and cheating, fraud and inflated prices are more likely,” the official added.
Nguyen Thuy, a marketing officer from Bao Son Travel, said overcrowding at popular destinations had a serious negative impact on tours for both foreign and domestic travellers.
“Many foreign tourists – including those arriving from China by land and those flying in from other countries – rush to Danang and Nha Trang, causing overloading,” Thuy said.
According to Thuy, Vietnamese tourists usually choose to travel during the peak season in May, June and July, adding the strain on tourism services during these months.
“In peak months, an overloaded tourism system is unavoidable,” Thuy said. “Some places such as the beaches of Sam Son, Cat Ba and Halong are terribly crowded and visitors have to wait four or five hours to get on board on a vessel to reach the sites.”
This overcrowding also puts a strain on tour companies, forcing them to mobilise their resources to salvage the experience for guests.
To avoid the situation, Chung said that in the coming high season, visitors should collect information about the places they want to visit so they understand where they are going.
The tourism authority official suggested that before travelling, tourists should carefully prepare for their stay by planning their transportation, accommodation and restaurants.
They should avoid impromptu travel because it makes it more likely they will encounter unexpected incidents. — Vietnam News/Asia News Network
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