Foreign tourists unpleased with vendors’ soliciting 

Direct flights snub HCM City

HCM City was previously the country’s most important gateway as almost all international flights were directed to Tan Son Nhat Airport.

However, following the recent upgrades to several airports in neighbouring provinces including Cam Ranh airport in Khanh Hoa and Danang airports, HCM City is losing its prominence.

Since early April, 2013, Vietnam Airlines has launched a direct flight from Cam Ranh to Moscow every Friday.

The national-flag carrier planned to increase one more flight on Monday beginning from October. In 2010, Russia’s Vladivostok Air launched a direct flight route from the Far East to Cam Ranh.

Several direct flight routes to Danang City have been launched recently, bringing the total number of international direct flight routes to this city to nine so far, in addition to five other leased direct flight routes. There will be a direct flight route from Danang to Russia soon.

Hanoi’s Noi Bai has been increasing direct flights. Vietnam Airlines provides 45 direct flights per week to the Japanese cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka, including 21 flights departing from Hanoi.

HCMC City municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said last year the metropolis welcomed 3.8 million international tourists, accounting for 56% of international arrivals to Vietnam. However, the figure indicated a fall compared to a 60% proportion in the previous years.

Losing advantages

Rebert Tan, a tourism expert from Singapore said HCM City is losing it advantage as Vietnam’s major tourism terminal.

“Previously, foreign visitors often took direct flights to HCM City before taking long journeys across the country. However, due to inconvenient transportation infrastructure, their tours have been shortened. HCM City is no longer the first priority in terms of sightseeing for a large number of international tourists,” Tan assessed.

In addition, the city is losing it status of connecting with foreign destinations in Laos and Cambodia as several direct flight routes to such places have been launched.

Phan Dinh Hue, Director of Vong Tron Viet Travel Company, said, “HCM City has advantages as a major terminal for tourists prior to arrival in Cambodia as it facilitates them to travel either by road, or waterway or air. However, recently many foreign tourists found it inconvenient to travel by road from HCM City to Cambodia as the Moc Bai Border Gate is too inconvenient and plagued by bureaucracy.”

According to Tan, HCM City is like some regional cities including Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur which mainly have artificial tourism products. HCM City was attractive for its free-duty products, food service areas, entertainment sites, traditional villages, opera houses, cultural and sport events at regional level. However, such products are fading by the time.

Ben Thanh Market in District 1 has been losing its appeal due to increasing soliciting and fake goods.

Fine art trading areas are too small to welcome a large number of visitors at the same time while duty-free products are far from attractive.

“First priority should be paid to stabilising public order to reassure tourists,” he added.

La Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of HCM City municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism admitted that the declining role of the city as an entry point has not only affected its tourism industry but also several industries such as trading and services.

Khanh emphasised the need to work out a new direction for the city’s tourism development with due attention being paid to shopping malls and food services.