Visitors outside the Temple of Literature

Le Xuan Kieu, Director of the Culture - Science Activity Centre of Temple of Literature, said that the site has been reopened to visitors from 8 am this morning.

The Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism earlier requested a temporary halt to festivals and closed cultural and historical sites to avoid gatherings in an effort to fight against the epidemic.

Following the instruction, Hanoi’s sites, including Ngoc Son Temple, Temple of Literature, and the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, have been shut on February 4.

However, there was opposition from many travel firms which said that it is unnecessary to do this and can further worry visitors as Vietnam had controlled the epidemic quite well.

The shutdown would seriously affect travel companies’ operations and would cause the number of tourists to Hanoi to fall by 90%, said Nguyen Tien Dat, General Director of AZA Tourism Company.