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| Rustic
beauty:
A riverfront view in the ancient imperial citadel of Hue,
where residents are hoping a city festival next year will
make up for a dearth of tourists in the wake of SARS this
year. Most of the city’s hotels and travel agents are
bracing themselves for an expected windfall. — VNA/VNS
Photo Thanh Ha |
|
Upbeat
Hue weathers tourist drought
by
Hoang Trung Hieu
Citizens of
the once imperial Hue are confident of high tourist numbers from
now to next year when the Festival Hue 2004 will be held.
The World Health
Organisation announcement at the end of April that Viet Nam had
successfully controlled the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, (SARS)
virus has boosted their confidence.
So too is the
cancelling of travel warnings against visiting Viet Nam by the
authorities of Japan, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan and the United States.
The arrival of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder last month and the
later five-day visit by President of the French Senate, Christian
Poncelet, has also reinforced the optimism.
Hue is among Viet
Nam’s most important historical and cultural sites.
It hosted the
country’s last imperial dynasty – the Nguyen (1802-1945) – and
numerous emperors and courtiers are entombed there.
The city boasts
170 pagodas and the relics of its royal palaces and mausoleums were
listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in December 30, 1993.
Tourism is a major
source of income and Thua Thien-Hue Province receives about 1.5 million
domestic and international tourists every year.
But life is not
without hardship.
Floods in November
1999 killed more than 400 people and caused major property loss when the
swollen Huong (Perfume) River swept away houses.
The floods left
many poor people poorer.
But now all are
eagerly anticipating the Festival Hue 2004.
"I could earn
about VND100,000 or more on a lucky day before SARS but because people
were afraid to come my income dropped," said Sy, a xe om, motorbike
taxi rider.
"But I think
the situation will be better from now on."
"My family
lives mostly on my trips from tourists – and that was especially true
during Festival Hue 2000 and 2002," said fellow rider Hung.
"The festival
days are cheering, exciting days for the city with so many people here
and I like the festival partly because it helps increase my
income," said a woman vendor at the Dong Ba market.
Many of Hue’s
inhabitants from the very young to the elderly know the history of the
Nguyen and they are ready to help visitors as unpaid guides.
At emperor Gia
Long’s mausoleum 12-year-old Loan knew much of the history by heart.
 |
| King’s
gate:
Standing 17m high and stretching 58m across, Ngo Mon
(Southern Gate) is the main entrance to the imperial
citadel. It has five doors, the main one reserved
for kings. — VNA/VNS Photo Anh Tuan |
|
So did many
others.
The province now
has 3,000 hotel rooms for tourists but it is still not enough to meet
demand, says provincial People’s Committee chairman Nguyen Xuan Ly.
Huong Giang tourism company proprietor Thai Thanh says that her company
has put 150 rooms of a 250-room hotel project into use.
Many in the city
are refurbishing their dwellings as cheap guest-houses because of the
demand likely during the festival.
Most of these
houses are surrounded by gardens and the facilities that make them
comfortable for easy-going visitors.
Households of Kim
Long Ward, on the south bank of the Huong River, are upgrading their
gardens to offer ecological tours.
"I would like
the festival to be held every year because it creates jobs," said
teacher Nguyen Thai Hong.
Owner of the
Truong Giang hotel on Doi Cung Street, Ngoc Quynh, said her hotel had
more than 600 guests in the Hue Festival 2002.
" I hope that
the managers of the ancient citadel spend more upgrading the Hue relics
so that we have bumper numbers next year," she said.
The province is
upgrading the roads to the mausoleums and building the tourism precincts
of Lang Co and My An together with the entertainment precincts of Thien
An-Thuy Tien and Ngu Binh for the festival.
Hue’s
traditional culture includes court song and dance, nha nhac,
performed at the Thai Mieu, temple of royal ancestor, and the Van
Mieu, temple of literature, as well as Ho Hue – the songs
of the men and women who worked the boats on the Huong River.
The songs and
dance can all be enjoyed aboard river boats and Hue’s cuisine matches
its historic reputation. — VNS |
