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Outbreak of Hotels in Hanoi.

The old quarter of Hanoi has more than 400 hotels (source TA) and a hundred more in the surrounding areas. Moreover this number almost tripled in recent years. We find this same observation about the travel agencies, it is impossible to walk into the old quarter in Hanoi without seeing a hotel, a travel agency or both every 50m.

The main reason for this expansion is of course linked to economic growth and tourism in Vietnam since its opening to the world in 90 years.

 
In terms of international tourism, Vietnam has received in 2010, 5,049,855 visitors, an increase of 34.8% over the same period of 2009.

 
 Source: GSO Vietnam

 
We can see that in 2008 and 2009 the global crisis and the crisis of bird flu have probably slowed the development of international tourism to Vietnam and this has even led to a drop in attendance in 2009.

In terms of hotel infrastructure, as we said before in 10 years the number of hotels has almost tripled in 2000 in Vietnam there were 55,760 rooms (built to international standard) and in 2010 we had 135 200 (source : vietnamtourism.com).

 
While there were too few hotel facilities in the past, it seems that there is now a little too much. According to Mrs Van General Manager of two hotels in Hanoi (Hanoi Luxor Hotel and Hanoi Calypso Hotel) "in 2008 we had to open our first hotel and the business was very good, then we opened our second hotel in February but Today they are too many hotels in Hanoi that it became difficult to stand out, our marketing team and the participation of our customers (through forums or sites where they can give their opinions) are our main strengths to differentiate ourselves from other hotels and continue to grow"

We interviewed several expatriates in Hanoi, according to Sandra (internship in Hanoi for 4 months in a tour operator in Vietnam) "Tourism in Hanoi will be developed more when the city will be more modern. To go to work I do every day 20km by Motobike, and for me it is very difficult and dangerous to move. The price of the ticket and the customs formalities for entering the territory do not lead necessarily to travel. In terms of language, much effort is to provide: no indication in the Train stations for example."

It is obvious that everyone works in on his side but there is a lack of cohesion between these institutions and a real let go of the city's tourism development

.

Many tourists complain about the traffic in the city, there is no traffic control, the noise is very disturbing (the sounds of horns) making the trip in Hanoi stressful. As a result, many tourists use Hanoi as a city stage in order to perform tours (Halong Bay, Sapa and others) in the vicinity of Hanoi.
 
The government and the City has a lot of work to make the city attractive (road traffic control, urban planning, lighting of the city, the fight against noise (building construction that do not meet certain standards), cleaness of the city , Civic Education (say hello, thank you, goodbye is not custom here, let alone the "excuse me" rather than a rush) and language of the population (learning some basics of English is indispensable today and too few people are able to speak English).

Ho Chi Minh has well understood, the capital of South Vietnam is now a rapidly changing modern city that now has several years ahead of Hanoi tourism development.

If in the future, no changes are made in the city of Hanoi and if added to it, Vietnam is experiencing a decline in its tourist numbers, the risk of dying of many hotel is to be expected.

Hanoi certainly retained a traditional look but its too rapid and uncontrolled modernization followed by a lack of training tailored to the needs of this city, brought the consequence that, this ancient city has now a sword of Damocles for the back for hotel business.

In conclusion we can say that all these factors depend the survival or collapse of at least part of the tourist hotel in Hanoi.