VietNamNet Bridge – Charity tours have been added into the lists of tourism products
offered by travel firms. However, the firms still keep very cautious in
developing the new product.
Go
traveling and making charity
In fact, charity programs have appeared on
the “menus” of many inbound tours designed for high end travelers for a long
time. However, charity tours have just become a new tendency among people who
love traveling for discoveries.
Vietravel Hanoi has become the first travel
firm in Vietnam that runs an advertisement campaign for charity tourism, having
designed the tours to northern mountainous provinces, where ethnic minorities
live.
With the new tourism products, travelers not
only can enjoy the sightseeing, explore the nature and culture of the high
land, but also can be closer to local people with charitable activities to be
organized at schools, mountainous villages. They would also be able to donate
books, mosquito nets, blankets and clothes to local children, to help improve
the quality of local people’s meals, or deliver medicines to them free of
charge.
Duong Mai Lan, a senior executive of
Vietravel Hanoi, said the launching of the tours associated with social
purposes has led to the sharp increase in the number of travelers since 2011
and the diversification of the travelers.
Hanoi Redtours and Vietran Tour have also
added charity programs into the tours from Hanoi to the northern provinces of
Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Cao Bang, Bac Kan and Dien Bien. With the tours, travelers
would be able to visit nursery schools, primary schools, donate clothes and
join extracurricular activities with ethnic minority children.
Especially, an executive of Hanoi Redtours
said the firm sets up low fees for the tours, while it does not strive for
profits when developing the tours. However, this would help attract travelers
to the destinations remaining unfamiliar to many people.
Meanwhile, Vietran Tour encourages travelers
to bring old clothes, books, pens and sweets with themselves, so that they can
donate to local children if they want.
Thu Anh from Vietran Tour said that charity
tours have been applauded by travelers, especially those who are office workers
or middle aged people.
The tours have also attracted young
travelers, who love discovery trips and want to learn more about the local
traditions and culture. Meanwhile, charity activities would help them do that,
while making the trips more interesting.
The
hurdles on the way
Though having realized the attractiveness of
the new type of tourism, travel firms still have not developed the tours in a
large scale.
Lan from Vietravel said travel firms have to
take very costly and careful field-works in order to design the tours. It takes
a lot of time to discuss with local authorities about the plans, seek
information about the people who need help, draw up charity plans, and follow a
lot of other procedures.
In some cases, it takes more time than
planned to design a tour, mostly because of the obstacles relating to the
administrative works.
In general, big travel firms would find it
easier to contact local authorities and organize larger scale charity
activities. This explains why small travel firms still keep hesitant about the
tours.
Deputy Director of Hanoi Redtours has
affirmed that charity tourism would develop strongly in the future thanks to
its high sociability and competitive tour fees. Meanwhile, local authorities
can cooperate with travel firms to attract more travelers by setting up
reasonable policies to attract tourists.
To Quoc
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