Halong Bay is Vietnam’s marquee attraction, the one unmissable site
that is on most tourists’ itineraries when they visitthe country. And
rightly so – it’s a truly spectacular, magical spot, thousands of
limestone rocks jutting out of the sea, harbouring floating fishing
villages and home to countless species of bird & marine life.
But, as is sadly so often the case in Vietnam
& other developing countries, the rush to make money out of Halong
Bay’s charms is having a negative effect on its appeal to visitors, and
too many tourists are coming away disappointed with their experience
there. I recently spent a weekend in Halong (my second trip there)
checking out various new boat products and enjoying (mostly) a luxury
overnight cruise. Here are some suggestions for how the Halong Bay
visitor experience can be improved…
1. Make it easier to get there
Most visitors to Halong start their journey in Hanoi, from whence there are 2 ways to make the trip – either charter a helicopter, which is quick & private but which costs over $6000 each way, or go by road. The road isn’t a highway or motorway, it’s just a normal Vietnamese main road and thus blighted by suicidal motorbikes and homicidal bus & truck drivers, passing through some of the most hideously ugly towns (Uong Bi, take a bow) the country has to offer, and taking nearly 4 hours. The Trung Luong highway has dramatically cut journey times between HCMC & the Mekong Delta, so a similar development would be a real boost to Halong Bay tourism and would make day tours a lot more feasible, as would a direct rail link from Hanoi.
2. Make it easier to book
Try Googling “halong bay cruise”. Any the wiser? All you’re looking at is 100s of dodgy cruise consolidators, all trying to undercut each other, many of them “selling” space they don’t even have before bumping their unfortunate clients onto inferior cruises.
Implementing a licenced seller programme would be easy & cost virtually nothing, & would give tourists confidence that the agency they’re booking with is legit.
3. Implement a star rating system
When I want to book a hotel in Vietnam (or anywhere), I usually base my decision on the star rating. This way I generally know what I’m going to get. With Halong Bay cruise boats, this isn’t the case – there is no star rating system to boat operators are free to market themselves as they wish. This means it’s often impossible for the client to distinguish between a genuine luxury boat (eg Au Co or Violet) and the many charlatans still operating in Halong. Implementing a hotel-style rating system would add clarity & transparency to the booking experience and help prevent the overselling & underdelivering that currently disappoint so many visitors.
4. Clean up the town
Halong City could be a beautiful place. Nestled on spectacular cliffsides alongside a wide beach and overlooking one of the most amazing natural landscapes on the planet, it should be a destination in itself. But thanks to the usual Vietnamese slapdash approach to urban planning, a contempt for historic architecture and a complete indifference to aesthetics, it’s an ugly mish-mash of a place, the shoreline skirted by brutalist 1970s architecture & hotels that noone in their right mind would want to spend a night in. Factor in the ubiquitous garbage (the beach was an absolute eyesore last week) and scores of motorbike touts hassling wandering tourists, and you have a place that people just want to get out of as quickly as possible.
It’s shame that hundreds of thousands of visitors to Halong Bay spend at most half an hour in the town waiting for their boats – encouraging these tourists to stay a while longer, even for a night, would boost the town’s economy no end and make the destination more attractive.
5. Clean up the water
On my first visit to Halong, I was too awestruck by the scenery to notice the garbage that many people had warned me about. This time, it was all too noticeable. Plastic bags, beer cans, food containers, you name it. And during 2 whole days on the water, I only saw one garbage cleanup boat containing one hardy man armed with a net, battling Canute-like against a tide of rubbish. I’m told much of it comes from the floating fishing villages, many of which ironically rely on tourism for extra income. It would cost very little for the authorities to install floating rubbish skips in each village & have these collected every day, & would improve conditions in the bay virtually overnight.
6. Educate the local population
This doesn’t apply just to Halong, but to most places in Vietnam. It seems that in tourist spots you’re either hassled to the point where even the Dalai Lama would be reaching for a baseball bat, or you’re completely ignored. Halong is a case in point – one minute you’re being hassled to buy stuff by a floating shop, the next you’re wandering around a floating fishing village where there’s noone to introduce you to the place, tell you about its history or explain to you how the locals live, or to sell you that can of beer or soda you’re craving.
Treating tourists nicely gives them good memories, generates WOM advertising, and creates more income in the medium to long term.
7. Varied itineraries
Halong Bay has a similar problem to Angkor Wat, in that every tour group seems to visit the same spot at the same time. When we visited Surprising Cave last week, we did so at the same time as seemingly every other boat. Why? Can’t the authorities insist on separate visit slots for each boat, to avoid overcrowding? What about repeat visitors who don’t want to see the cave or floating village again? How do you sell a second tour to them? And what about activities on board? Why does every boat operator want to send me off kayaking, or teach me how to cook spring rolls?
The only way to get a unique itinerary at present is to charter a private boat, but the cost of this is beyond the reach of most visitors. What’s needed is a bit of originality & creativity from boat operators, instead of just going with the flow & offering the same product as their competitors.
8. Be more informative
Junk cruises are generally well staffed with crew, waiters, cruise managers etc. But one thing missing is informative guides who can really bring the tour to life. I’m sure my boat passed by some interesting rock formations & villages, but there was noone there to tell me anything about them, and whilst I fully appreciated the majesty of Halong Bay, I came away knowing nothing more about it than I did when I arrived. The lack of information about the destination on most junk cruises is pretty embarrassing.
9. Ditch the white paint
It was a stupid idea when it was first mentioned, and now it’s been put into practice, it looks even more stupid. Wooden junks are traditional and fit the atmosphere of the bay perfectly. Painting them white looks dirty, is a waste of time, a waste of money (one boat operator told me he has to repaint each boat every 10-14 days at a cost of US$1000 per boat), and will result in increased prices. Back to brown please.
10. Privatise the Bay
I’m a lifelong socialist and generally opposed to privatisation, but in some cases, particularly those in which the state authorities have no clue what they’re doing, it’s essential. Look at Angkor Wat, a fine example of how allowing a private firm to run a national monument can improve infrastructure, efficiency and the general visitor experience. Allowing a similar arrangement for Halong Bay would be a win-win situation for customers, boat operators and local people alike.
Visited Halong Bay recently? Got any other suggestions? Please comment!
1. Make it easier to get there
Most visitors to Halong start their journey in Hanoi, from whence there are 2 ways to make the trip – either charter a helicopter, which is quick & private but which costs over $6000 each way, or go by road. The road isn’t a highway or motorway, it’s just a normal Vietnamese main road and thus blighted by suicidal motorbikes and homicidal bus & truck drivers, passing through some of the most hideously ugly towns (Uong Bi, take a bow) the country has to offer, and taking nearly 4 hours. The Trung Luong highway has dramatically cut journey times between HCMC & the Mekong Delta, so a similar development would be a real boost to Halong Bay tourism and would make day tours a lot more feasible, as would a direct rail link from Hanoi.
2. Make it easier to book
Try Googling “halong bay cruise”. Any the wiser? All you’re looking at is 100s of dodgy cruise consolidators, all trying to undercut each other, many of them “selling” space they don’t even have before bumping their unfortunate clients onto inferior cruises.
Implementing a licenced seller programme would be easy & cost virtually nothing, & would give tourists confidence that the agency they’re booking with is legit.
3. Implement a star rating system
When I want to book a hotel in Vietnam (or anywhere), I usually base my decision on the star rating. This way I generally know what I’m going to get. With Halong Bay cruise boats, this isn’t the case – there is no star rating system to boat operators are free to market themselves as they wish. This means it’s often impossible for the client to distinguish between a genuine luxury boat (eg Au Co or Violet) and the many charlatans still operating in Halong. Implementing a hotel-style rating system would add clarity & transparency to the booking experience and help prevent the overselling & underdelivering that currently disappoint so many visitors.
4. Clean up the town
Halong City could be a beautiful place. Nestled on spectacular cliffsides alongside a wide beach and overlooking one of the most amazing natural landscapes on the planet, it should be a destination in itself. But thanks to the usual Vietnamese slapdash approach to urban planning, a contempt for historic architecture and a complete indifference to aesthetics, it’s an ugly mish-mash of a place, the shoreline skirted by brutalist 1970s architecture & hotels that noone in their right mind would want to spend a night in. Factor in the ubiquitous garbage (the beach was an absolute eyesore last week) and scores of motorbike touts hassling wandering tourists, and you have a place that people just want to get out of as quickly as possible.
It’s shame that hundreds of thousands of visitors to Halong Bay spend at most half an hour in the town waiting for their boats – encouraging these tourists to stay a while longer, even for a night, would boost the town’s economy no end and make the destination more attractive.
5. Clean up the water
On my first visit to Halong, I was too awestruck by the scenery to notice the garbage that many people had warned me about. This time, it was all too noticeable. Plastic bags, beer cans, food containers, you name it. And during 2 whole days on the water, I only saw one garbage cleanup boat containing one hardy man armed with a net, battling Canute-like against a tide of rubbish. I’m told much of it comes from the floating fishing villages, many of which ironically rely on tourism for extra income. It would cost very little for the authorities to install floating rubbish skips in each village & have these collected every day, & would improve conditions in the bay virtually overnight.
6. Educate the local population
This doesn’t apply just to Halong, but to most places in Vietnam. It seems that in tourist spots you’re either hassled to the point where even the Dalai Lama would be reaching for a baseball bat, or you’re completely ignored. Halong is a case in point – one minute you’re being hassled to buy stuff by a floating shop, the next you’re wandering around a floating fishing village where there’s noone to introduce you to the place, tell you about its history or explain to you how the locals live, or to sell you that can of beer or soda you’re craving.
Treating tourists nicely gives them good memories, generates WOM advertising, and creates more income in the medium to long term.
7. Varied itineraries
Halong Bay has a similar problem to Angkor Wat, in that every tour group seems to visit the same spot at the same time. When we visited Surprising Cave last week, we did so at the same time as seemingly every other boat. Why? Can’t the authorities insist on separate visit slots for each boat, to avoid overcrowding? What about repeat visitors who don’t want to see the cave or floating village again? How do you sell a second tour to them? And what about activities on board? Why does every boat operator want to send me off kayaking, or teach me how to cook spring rolls?
The only way to get a unique itinerary at present is to charter a private boat, but the cost of this is beyond the reach of most visitors. What’s needed is a bit of originality & creativity from boat operators, instead of just going with the flow & offering the same product as their competitors.
8. Be more informative
Junk cruises are generally well staffed with crew, waiters, cruise managers etc. But one thing missing is informative guides who can really bring the tour to life. I’m sure my boat passed by some interesting rock formations & villages, but there was noone there to tell me anything about them, and whilst I fully appreciated the majesty of Halong Bay, I came away knowing nothing more about it than I did when I arrived. The lack of information about the destination on most junk cruises is pretty embarrassing.
9. Ditch the white paint
It was a stupid idea when it was first mentioned, and now it’s been put into practice, it looks even more stupid. Wooden junks are traditional and fit the atmosphere of the bay perfectly. Painting them white looks dirty, is a waste of time, a waste of money (one boat operator told me he has to repaint each boat every 10-14 days at a cost of US$1000 per boat), and will result in increased prices. Back to brown please.
10. Privatise the Bay
I’m a lifelong socialist and generally opposed to privatisation, but in some cases, particularly those in which the state authorities have no clue what they’re doing, it’s essential. Look at Angkor Wat, a fine example of how allowing a private firm to run a national monument can improve infrastructure, efficiency and the general visitor experience. Allowing a similar arrangement for Halong Bay would be a win-win situation for customers, boat operators and local people alike.
Visited Halong Bay recently? Got any other suggestions? Please comment!
HaLong bay is the most beautiful heritage of Viet Nam, it's so exciting that spending our vacation on Halong bay cruise
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete