Southerners’ fear of unsafe north festivals

Several festivals, especially religious, being organized in northern provinces this month have failed to attract tourists from the south due to rumors of unsafe conditions.
Before Tet, travel firms launched such tours departing after Tet in many provinces nationwide to central Vietnam, or to Hanoi, Halong and Ninh Binh in the north.
“Some customers ask for information about festivals but do not want to attend. Information about jostling and unsafe conditions at festivals has scared off tourists, and thus they choose to visit pilgrimage sites on normal days,” said Cao Pham Hang, director of SPSC Tour.
According to statistics of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, some big festivals like Co Loa Temple, Soc Temple, Huong Pagoda and Hai Ba Trung Temple in Hanoi, Yen Tu in Quang Ninh Province, Bai Dinh Pagoda in Ninh Binh Province, Tran Temple in Nam Dinh, Hung King Temple and Mother Au Co Temple in Phu Tho Province have welcomed nearly 80,000 tourist arrivals.
Like other travel firms, SPSC Tour also offers tours to Bai Dinh Pagoda, Yen Tu and Halong as well as tours to Chau Doc in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang. At the beginning of the year, customers tend to book services at travel firms.
A representative of a travel firm based in HCMC’s District 1 said that the firm has sold few package tours to pagodas in northern provinces due to customers’ concerns over cold weather, but there have been a high number of pilgrimage tours in the south sold. Tourists normally combine pilgrimage with charity.
At Saigontourist Travel Service Company, there have been around 300 customers, with overseas Vietnamese accounting for half, buying pilgrimage tours to central and northern Vietnam this month. The price for such tours ranges between VND7 million and VND13 million.
“We only pay attention to pilgrimage sites and do not encourage tourists to join festivals as there are huge crowds there and we cannot ensure safety for tourists,” said Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing manager of Saigontourist.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism at a review meeting of the Government, ministries and agencies held on Tuesday, there were nine million domestic tourists and 700,000 international visitors during the nine-day Tet holiday. Besides, the number of tourists buying Tet tours increased 10-15% year-on-year.