Since yesterday (January 26), most restaurants in Ha Long City have closed and given employees a day off for Tet.
According to some restaurant owners, people living and working in the city have returned to their hometowns, there are not many tourists and even during Tet, the demand for food and drink is very low so they close early and are expected to reopen at the earliest after the 6th day of Tet.
Surveying around Ha Long city center and Bai Chay tourist area, there are only a few small, popular eateries, mainly serving local people.
This makes tourism workers in Quang Ninh concerned that visitors to Ha Long will not be able to find a place to eat like Tet 2024.
During Tet last year, many tourists and groups of visitors to Ha Long had difficulty, and could not even find a place to eat or drink.
On the second day of Tet last year, Le Dinh Hai's family and several other families drove straight from Hanoi to Ha Long for a spring trip, because with only one day, this was the most reasonable itinerary.
However, the journey to find a restaurant was extremely difficult, because we ran all over the city but still couldn't find any restaurant.
According to a travel company director, in the past, many restaurants and eateries remained open during Tet because there were many customers and few restaurants; if they were to remain open during Tet now, they would certainly incur huge losses.
“Currently, only a few hotels in Ha Long that have guests staying during Tet have arranged food and beverage services for tourists, while casual visitors will face difficulties. I know that some small hotels are still welcoming guests and still providing food and beverage services for outside guests, but tourists probably don’t know this information,” he shared.
According to this person, the Department of Tourism and localities should publish a list of restaurants, hotels, and entertainment venues that are still operating during Tet so that tourists can know.
However, this issue has not received much attention. Currently, only a few localities, including Mong Cai City, have published a specific list of hotels and restaurants serving tourists during Tet on the city's electronic information portal.
The capital Ha Long - a major tourist center of the country - has no information about the situation of restaurants and hotels operating during Tet.
Not only restaurants, many hotels in Ha Long also closed a few days before Tet and are expected to reopen after the 10th day of Tet.
“Working during Tet, restaurant and hotel owners will have to pay double or triple the salary for workers, but the number of customers is known to be sparse, income is not enough to cover expenses, and even have to compensate for large losses, so it is best to let employees take Tet off” - a hotel owner in Ha Long said.
