Hanoi is developing tours to six selected local trade villages as partof efforts to promote this type of tourism in the capital city.

Destinations include Van Phuc silk, Bat Trang pottery, Phu Vinh rattanand bamboo, Son Dong fine art sculpture, Du Du sculpture, Quat Dongembroidery and Ngo Ha mother-of-pearl inlay villages.

The city is planning to develop this type of tourism in 14 other traditional trade villages.
With 1,350 trade villages, including 207 recognised ones, they create much potential for tourism in Hanoi .

Among those, only Bat Trang pottery and Van Phuc silk villages arecapable of attracting visitors. However, the number of touriststravelling to these sites is declining due to several internal factors.

Van Phuc silk village in the city’s Ha Dong wardused to have 1,000 silk weaving looms. However, only 250 still operate,with 400 households involved due to the impacts of urbanisation.

According to statistics from Gia Lam district’s Bat Trang communePeople’s Committee, the Bat Trang pottery village welcomes about 60,000visitors both from home and abroad who come to buy pottery products,bringing in 9.52 million USD a year.

However,the tourists have not had a chance to experience the village’s culturaland historical values and participate in making pottery products.

Officials said this is the common situation in othertrade villages in Hanoi due to the lack of synchronous coordinationamong tourism managers, travel agents and local authorities.

The Vietnam National Tourism Administration said the authorities oflocalities with trade villages should be more involved in tourismdevelopment and offer favourable policies and conditions to encouragelocal people to participate in tourism activities.-VNA