Craft villages in Hanoi to be transformed into tourist sites

In the latest attempt to attract more international and domestic tourists to the city, Hanoi’s authorities have planned to develop six traditional craft villages into tourist attractions.

The six villages in this plan are: Phu Vinh rattan and bamboo weaving village (Chuong My District), Son Dong fine art sculpture village (Hoai Duc District), Bat Trang pottery village (Gia Lam), Van Phuc silk village (Ha Dong District), Ngo Ha mother-of-pearl inlay village (Phu Xuyen District) and Du Du sculpture (Thanh Oai District). Among these, Phu Vinh village will be chosen as demo.

With this new development plan, these six craft villages will get the sponsorship and support from the authorities of Hanoi to re-construct old houses, to restore historical and cultural sites, to build specialized area for displaying and selling masterpieces, to improve transport system and waste and water treatment facilities.

The highlight of this transformation plan is the appearance of home-stay service, which has never been seen in tourist sites near city center, which offers tourist many more opportunities to take part in the daily life of the locals.

By 2015, Hanoi aims at establishing 14 other similar tourist villages, which are expected to boost up the number of international visitors to 300,000-500,000; and domestic ones to 2-3 million.