Ha Giang asks tourists to stop giving money to children

November 27, 2015 | 14:00

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Authorities of Ha Giang Province, an emerging tourist destination in the country’s northwest, have petitioned tourists to stop donating cash to local children as this generosity might lead kids there to develop a habit of asking for money from visitors.

A tourist poses for photos at a buckwheat fl ower field in Dong Van rock plateau in the northwestern province of Ha Giang - PHOTO: ANH KIET

Trieu Te Vinh, secretary of the provincial Party Committee, said tourist arrivals in the province have steadily grown. During the buckwheat flower festival between November 12 and 15, the province attracted over 107 groups of tourists, resulting in all the hotel and hostel rooms in the buckwheat growing area being fully occupied, he told a conference on promotion of investment in the northwest held in HCMC on Monday.

However, tourists often share the difficulties faced by children in rural areas, so they would give them some cash when they meet those kids. This is a good deed but local kids have developed a habit of soliciting tourists for money.

“Children usually stand on the streets and wave to tourists so as to ask for money. Therefore, we want tourists to give them gifts instead,” he said.

Buckwheat is cultivated in winter for its grain-like seeds which ethnic people in the mountainous region use to make several food specialties. In recent years, stunning buckwheat fields have lured a lot of tourists in late autumn.

Vinh said Ha Giang will organize the buckwheat flower festival on a larger scale to do the branding for the festival and thus bring more tourists to the province.

“Ha Giang has 1,000 hectares under buckwheat cultivation and the province plans to organize the festival throughout the buckwheat flower blooming season next year, instead of several days as this year,” he said.

Ha Giang reported around 650,000 tourist arrivals last year.

SGT

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