Hanoi develops craft villages to serve tourism

The capital city will be developing six typical traditional craft villages till 2015 closely linked with the tourism sector in the hope of exploiting its cultural and economic advantages.

The capital city will be developing six typical traditional craft villages till 2015 closely linked with the tourism sector in the hope of exploiting its cultural and economic advantages.

The six craft villages, selected from Hanoi’s traditional 244, include Phu Vinh rattan and bamboo village (in Chuong My district), Son Dong sculpture and fine arts village (in Hoai Duc district), Bat Trang-Kim Lan ceramic village (in Gia Lam district), Van Phuc silk weaving village (in Ha Dong district), Ngo Ha lackquerware village (in Phu Xuyen district), and Du Du sculpture village (in Thanh Oai district).  

Hanoi plans to preserve the villages’ communal houses; improve transportation, water, and electricity infrastructure; address environmental pollution; and construct facilities for souvenir commerce, parking, and toilets.

Tourists will have the opportunity to experience a variation of the village homestay. It will allow participants to observe the lives of locals, join in festivals and traditional cultural activities, and capitalise on the specially trained tour guides that will be stationed in each village.

Fourteen other traditional villages are also on the shortlist for potential tourism expansion in the future.

With the intensive investment, Hanoi is aiming to welcome between 300,000–500,000 international visitors and 2­–3 million domestic tourists annually until 2015.