Red River tourism – potential remains open

The Red River flowing through Hanoi has great potentials to develop typical tours. However, due to poor infrastructure, Red River tourism has not prospered and has not found a place in the capital’s special tour group.
Great potentials and advantages

The Red River flowing through Hanoi has a pure, wild, natural beauty that has not been broken by the coastal living space. Up to now, the Red River still retains a peaceful look for visitors to have a quiet time watching the sky, clouds and water waves. Along the Red River, there are many historical and cultural relics for tourists to stop to visit such as Dinh Chem in Dong Ngac ward, Bac Tu Liem district, Ghenh temple (Long Bien district) located along the river to worship Princess Le Ngoc. Han is also a relic that attracts many visitors. A little further, Dam Temple (Ninh So commune, Thuong Tin district) is a long standing relic worshiping Mau Comfortable – one of the three holy temples of Vietnamese folk beliefs. Also on the river stretching through Hanoi, guests can also admire Long Bien Bridge with a history of more than 100 years, Thang Long Bridge – a symbol of Vietnam – Soviet friendship, Nhat Tan bridge symbolizing the reach of Hanoi City. in the period of international economic integration. Visitors join the Red River tour organized by Thang Long Joint Stock Company GTC. Located adjacent to the Red River, Bat Trang traditional pottery village where traditional crafts are kept is a tourist attraction that attracts tourists from near and far. Arriving in Bat Trang by river, visitors will have a new experience, when they are allowed to access the old water wharf, wriggle through the narrow alleys of the pottery village before coming to the bustling market, buying pottery while being able to try Being a potter is an enjoyable experience traveling to the Red River. Representative of Sen Forest Tourist Company Hoang Thi Kim Van said: “Traveling to the Red River, the most interesting thing is to see the scenery, visit the communal house, the pagoda along the two banks. I discovered a lot of interesting things. , get a new experience, different from when choosing a road tour “.
Director of Thang Long Joint Stock Company Ta Minh Hung (DN organizes to exploit Red River tours) said: In order to serve the Red River tourism, the company opened 4 tours such as: “Journey of love songs” with schedule of Bo De pagoda – Chuong Duong bridge – Long Bien bridge – Nhat Tan bridge – Thang Long bridge – Che communal house; “Night of the Red River”, the schedule of Bo De pagoda – Chuong Duong bridge – Long Bien bridge – Nhat Tan bridge … Not only that, in recent years, the company has also expanded the Red River tour to some neighboring provinces. Capital. Specifically, the enterprise has cooperated with Bac Ninh and Hung Yen provinces to expand the Red River tour to tourist destinations such as Chu Dong Tu Temple (Hung Yen), Phat Tich Pagoda, Dau Pagoda (Bac Ninh).
Many problems and shortcomings
Despite the potential, but in fact, the operation of the Red River tour stops at a small scale and has not been properly invested. On average, each year, this tourist route only attracts about 300,000 tourists, of which international visitors account for about 30%.
Travel businesses said that this tourist route mainly serves tourists, combining ecotourism with spiritual tourism, almost no retail tourists. Meanwhile, along the Red River, there are many relics that have not been invested and exploited to create unique tourism products, so it is difficult to attract second-time tourists. Not only that, the technical infrastructure is poor, both lacking and weak, currently only Da Hoa temple wharf and Bat Trang tourist port are properly invested, making it convenient to get on and off the ship. The rest of the other destinations are still left open, making it difficult for tourists to travel, especially in the rainy season. In fact, in many attractions, tourists buying a tour of the Red River must have nerves of steel when using a fragile bridge connecting the transport ship with the river bank.
Director of Phuong Hoang Tourism Company Dang Bich Tho said frankly: Currently the Red River tour is only suitable for domestic tourists, if you want to attract international tourists, many factors must be changed. Specifically for foreign visitors, the tour requires an emphasis on a certain theme; services and products for international customers must also change towards a more professional and attractive direction. For example, for international tourists, it is not advisable to let them sit on the train for several hours enjoying the scenery for themselves. What attracts them is the traditional craft villages on both sides of the river, and cultural and historical features related to the tour destinations must be carefully introduced. Agreeing with this opinion, the representative of OpenTour Tourism Company said: In order to diversify the amount of tours to serve tourists, the company has invited guests to use the Red River tour. However, in the past few years, visitors to this tour are very few and almost no foreigners. The reason is that the two sides of the river are full of dirt, causing loss of aesthetics, environmental pollution, making tourists, especially foreigners, turn their backs.
Sharing difficulties in the process of building and operating the Red River tour, Mr. Ta Minh Hung said: Although Thang Long GTC has provided Red River tour services for 20 years, it has not been able to create real products. the specialties and characteristics of Hanoi tourism. The reason is that the infrastructure on both sides of the Red River has not met the requirements of tourists for landscape and sanitation. Currently, Hanoi does not have a pier to serve tourists, visitors have to board from the temporary wharf at Chuong Duong Do wharf. In the dry season, the water level is low, the boat cannot dock, visitors have to board the boat from Bo De Pagoda. Another problem posed is that for a long time, the city has not invested in the construction of both sides of the river. Many river sections, even the ones that run through the inner city, have dusty landscapes, and temporary houses. Some river sections are places where rubbish, construction waste, sand mining … are gathered, creating bad impressions on visitors.
Not only that, but tourism in the Red River is greatly influenced by weather and seasonality. In the dry season, the water is dry, the boat is very difficult to dock, the company organizing tours of the Red River has to stop the boat on the riverbed, using a boat “boating” to bring guests ashore. In addition, the company wants to open a night tour, but it is not possible, because the management of vehicles on the Red River is not really good, the sand barge runs at night without high speed. necessary warning, affecting the safety of visitors. “The biggest difficulty of the operators of Red River tourism is the lack of ships and boats meeting international standards and so far there are no wharves” – Mr. Hung lamented.
Need multidisciplinary support
According to experts, in order for Red River tourism products to have a strong attraction to tourists, the General Department of Tourism, the Hanoi Department of Tourism and Hanoi City need to invest more in tourism infrastructure and embellishment. Riverside landscape.
Talking about the need for multidisciplinary support in the renovation, embellishment and upgrading of infrastructure thereby helping tourism businesses to develop tours of the Red River, Hanoi Travel Association President Phung Quang Thang commented: To develop Red River tourism is not simply a tourist company, but it needs a consistent policy of the local city, district and commune to do it. The first is to clean up the riverbank area where ships pass by for a beautiful landscape that attracts tourists. Previously, along the Red River were undulating and poetic tiled houses behind village bamboo, now there are only tube houses, lack of attraction, while the river bank is not beautiful. This needs to be corrected. Second, it is advisable to invest in a boat that is both safe and quiet so that visitors can both enjoy the scenery and relax. “The difficult thing is that the anchorage is temporary and has not been properly invested. Investors spend money, but without the participation of the city or locality so that the tour becomes more and more attractive, it cannot attract tourists ”- Mr. Thang expressed.
Agreeing with this suggestion, Chairman of the Tourism Advisory Council Tran Trong Kien stated: To develop river tourism in general, the Red River in particular needs to develop a long-term, impossible, one-way process. can be strong right away. Management agencies need to prepare a lot of conditions for river tourism products such as: Construction and operation of river cruise terminals; traffic planning and investment connecting the pick-up point from the river to the road according to the schedule … In addition, it is necessary to promote activities to promote and promote river tourism products in key markets for easy access to tourists; calling for and creating conditions for domestic and international enterprises to invest in high quality cruise ships, combine yachts with floating restaurants, open representative offices abroad … Representative of Phuong Nam Tourism Company Sun Travel Nguyen Thien Ngo commented: To develop Red River tourism alongside the participation of businesses in the long term, it is necessary to have interdisciplinary cooperation to plan the two sides of the Red River, That way, businesses will determine the investment plan for infrastructure for tours of the Red River.
It can be seen that the Red River tour has a lot of potential to become a typical and attractive tourist product of Hanoi. However, in order for this product to really flourish, perhaps the efforts of the company are not enough, but it needs a strong determination to join the authorities. Chairman of the Tourism Advisory Council Tran Trong Kien: There should be a plan for each region Although Hanoi City has issued the Hanoi Capital Construction Master Plan up to 2030 with a vision to 2050, in which the two sides of the Red River are the central landscape space axis of the capital, there will be parks, great cultural and entertainment works to organize meaningful events. However, this is a future image, in the immediate future, Hanoi should have regional plans for Red River tourism to create certain spots. Specifically relocating the waste disposal sites along the river; opening ecological zones to grow clean fruits and vegetables; traditional art performances … this will be the basis for investment in Red River tourism. Director of Travel Department, Tourism Department Nguyen Quy Phuong: Will be an attractive travel product if removed get entangled In fact, the current model of Red River tourism deployed by Thang Long GTC Joint Stock Company is still having to compensate for losses because there are still many difficulties and obstacles such as investment in vehicles, large, difficult berths, basically itself. Business processing of cruise ships has not been implemented under the market mechanism of active business. However, in the future when the difficulties in infrastructure are removed from the local government, I believe this will definitely be an attractive tourism product featuring Hanoi for tourism businesses. exploit. Director of Hanoitourist Travel Company Phung Quang Thang: Need to build berths, upgrade infrastructure Transshipment In essence, a water tour is to understand what is on the shore. Therefore, it is necessary to arrange for visitors to visit historical sites, culinary and cultural experiences on both sides of the river and canal. To do that, it is necessary to build a ship dock, upgrade transport infrastructure to serve tourists to the sights. In special places, you can use a tram or even simple means such as a horse cart, a buffalo cart to take advantage of the unique cultural features of Vietnam, making an impression on visitors. President of UNESCO Tourism Club Truong Quoc Hung: Should sell specialties, souvenirs Tourism of the Red River is a waterway tourism, so in the long run, the management agency needs to plan specific channels, which canals are for cruise ships, transport ships, and at the same time regulate the date and time of the ship. boats can travel, regulations on tonnage, types of ships, signs as this relates to safety issues for visitors. Besides, enterprises operating Red River tours need to upgrade services on board in the direction of selling products such as specialties, souvenirs … of the Red River Delta regions thereby optimizing profits, value added through services.