Published:  23:00 Thursday - March 28, 2013

The three critical issues in the eyes of tourists to Hanoi consist of sanitation, transportation systems and the behavior of some taxi drivers and employees of stores.

 Vendors chasing foreign visitors in the Old Quarter. Recently, the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a survey with the participation of 1,420 international tourists, with men accounting for 52 percent, the average age is 40. The questionnaires were delivered at the Noi Bai international airport and a number of tourist attractions of Hanoi.

According to the survey, international visitors come to the capital city for a variety of purposes, with 67 percent as travelers, 14 percent as businessmen, 3 percent as family visits. Around 25 percent of visitors chose Hanoi for learning about the value of its cultural and historical sites, to explore the natural landscape (17 percent), on the advice of friends and relatives (12 percent), experience from previous trips (4 percent), the hospitality of the local people (5 percent).

The majority of international visitors said they have relatively good feeling about Hanoi. However, there are three significant problems for them: environmental sanitation, transport infrastructure and the behavior of some taxi drivers and shop staff.

To build good image of Hanoi, the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proposed to remove parking lots on pavements and roads to make way for pedestrians, to implement solutions to deal with traffic and environment problems and have area reserved for tourists with tourism and trade activities.

The Department also emphasizes the need to improve and strengthen the system of signs, public toilets at the airport, tourist attractions, shopping malls and strengthen the management of taxi drivers, vendors because the attitude and dishonesty of some taxi drivers, vendors have disturbed visitors, thus affecting the good image of Hanoi.

Vietnamnet