An official has said Hanoi’s tourism products should be associated with advertising high-quality goods, especially those which are the signature of craft villages.

Foreign tourists in Bat Trang pottery village in Hanoi

“The efforts aim to develop the city’s high-quality tourism products while contributing to implementing the ‘Vietnamese prioritise Vietnamese products’ campaign,” said Tran Duc Hai, Director of the municipal Department of Tourism (DoT).

In 2017, Hanoi took steps to promote local tourism, instructing local travel agencies to offer tours including shopping for locally-made products. 

The tours taught foreign tourists about Vietnamese high-quality goods, particularly the products of Hanoi-based traditional craft villages, Hai said.

Hanoi is home to more than 1,350 craft villages, 45 percent of the nation’s total number.

The villages offer many unique products in terms of technique and design. Bat Trang, for example, is famous for its ceramics with white glaze and blue patterns, considered an “East-meets-West” product.

The city has also selected 15 craft villages to set up inter-village tours including Thang Loi, Ha Thai, Phu Vinh, Van Phuc, Son Dong, Bat Trang and Kieu Ky.  

Made-in-Hanoi crafts have also been introduced to a wide range of festivals and trade fairs at home and abroad.

In 2018, the promotion of locally-made products will be continued on social media and in the city’s cooperation strategies with the US-based CNN channel and TripAdvisor-the US's premier travel website, among others, according to Hai.

Chairman of the Hanoi Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee Vu Hong Khanh stressed the need for Hanoi to increase the production of local products.

As the head of the municipal Steering Committee for the “Vietnamese prioritise Vietnamese products” campaign, Khanh said “we need to ensure domestic production toward better quality and more diverse designs.” 

He requested local firms, district steering committees, and the DoT make greater efforts to introduce Vietnamese products to tourists.

“The point is to connect supply and demand via publicity and promotion, thus boosting tourism in association with Vietnamese high-quality products,” Khanh said.

He suggested the DoT develop a magazine introducing local tourism products, services, goods and tours to Hanoi-based craft villages and local production and distribution establishments.

“Local craft villages should offer tourism services and products at reasonable prices and in an environmentally-friendly manner,” Khanh said.

The craft villages have consolidated their foothold in Hanoi’s socio-economic structure, shipped their products abroad and have created jobs for 740,000 workers. 

The Hanoi People’s Committee recently issued a plan on craft village development for 2018.

The city will provide funds for 12 villages to build trademarks, 20 craft production establishments to hire experts for designing products and 14 other establishments to apply advanced technologies.

The capital will also train 24,000 rural labourers and 1,500 managers of rural production establishments. 

The movement, “Vietnamese prioritise Vietnamese products”, started in 2006 and has since built trust in the quality of Vietnamese goods.

At a recent conference reviewing the campaign in 2017 and launching tasks for 2018, Tran Thanh Man, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front said the campaign received good responses from people and local businesses.

“The campaign contributed to raising people’s awareness of selecting and using Vietnamese products while helping businesses be aware of their role and responsibility in manufacturing quality products to meet demands of consumers,” he said.-VNA