Vietnam: It's difficult to buy souvenirs in central region's tourism sites

The central region is really the choice of many people when they plan travel plans, especially in summer. The sea cities of Da Nang and Nha Trang, the ancient town of Hoi An, the beautiful beaches of Cua Tung, Hai Hoa, Thien Cam and Quynh Luu have been the favorite destinations for many people.

However, many travelers complain that local authorities and residents have not done much to persuade people to travel to their localities.Kieu Lan, a traveler, who has been to the central region many times, said that it is her habit to buy postcards in every places where she once set foot in. If she returns to the places to which she once came before, she would try to look for new postcards.

However, Lan complained, it is very difficult to seek to buy postcards there. ''You can find some postcards in Da Nang, Nha Trang and Hoi An, but the postcards were issued several years ago. I cannot find any postcards about the firework festivals in Da Nang, though I really want to, Lan said.

In early July, Saigon Tiep Thi's reporter came to Ly Son Island and he decided to buy something which he would show to his friends to prove that he was on the wonderful island. However, it turned out to be a very difficult work.

However, the reporter luckily had the chance to visit the Dang family on Ly Son Island, who gave to the State the only version of the Royal Ordinance of Minh Mang King. The King sent a group of boats with the crew of 24 people to guard the Hoang Sa archipelago in 1834. The ordinance showed the seals of high ranking mandarins of Quang Ngai province and the names of the crew's members.

The old man of the Dang family gave the photocopy of the royal ordinance to the reporter as a gift, which has been later ''multiplied'' and given to friends. Even though the document was written in a language which is not understandable to many people. However, this is still considered as a valuable gift.

Then a question has been raised--that why the important document is not printed on do paper (a kind of paper) which can be sold to travelers?Travelers said that there is a Ba Hoa Market in Tan Binh district in HCM City, where all kinds of original food specialties of the central region are sold. However, it is ironical that Saigonese cannot buy central region's food specialties when they travel to the region.

In Binh Dinh province, one can see Hong cake, a kind of cake made of coconut and glutinous rice powder, which tastes very delicious, available at the local markets. However, most of travelers do not know how to eat the cake. The problem is that the cake is always very big, and every cake weights about 500 grams. People need to bring the cakes home and then divide the cake into small pieces with a knife.

Here in Binh Dinh, sugar candy is also sold in every kilogram or block. Travelers cannot understand why this kind of sugar cannot be made in small square pieces, which would be much more easily used for making cup or coffee. Now, when purchasing the sugar, people would have to cut the sugar slabs into small pieces for use.

Analysts have also pointed out that oan (truncated cone of sticky rice) all have the same designs and they are all wrapped with the same kind of wrapping paper. Meanwhile, if producers use the wrapping paper with Cham tower picture, or design beautiful boxes where people can put oan, the values of oan would be much higher.

In other countries, local people try to relate attractive stories about the origins of their special products to persuade them to purchase the products. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, the interesting stories about Song Tra ca bong (a kind of fish), Nam O fish sauce, Bau Truc porcelain, or Bau Da liquor have not been related. People only hear the bad rumour about the products.Analysts have pointed out that it is the unprofessional marketing method which explains why the central regionandrsquo;s people still cannot persuade many people to their localities.

Source = vietnamnet.vn