As Vietnam’s tourism numbers continue to shoot skywards, the debate over whether to hit the popular hotspots or veer down the path less traveled is hotly contested.
In excess of 10 million tourists crossed over the Vietnamese border last year, a record that has already been smashed in the first 10 months of this year. Because of the rapid growth of the nation’s tourism industry, places that have usually been favoured by travelers are now becoming more crowded and busy as each year passes. This newfound flush of tourists is causing many people to look for quieter alternatives “off-the-beaten-track”.
Those in favour of sticking to the more popular routes will propose that such places are popular for a reason, and the fact that there are high levels of tourism there just confirms it’s a place worth visiting; whereas those who prefer to avoid the crowds will likely tell you it’s impossible to enjoy a place when you’re amidst such an uncomfortably high number of people, and when the experience lacks any unique quality the overall value diminishes.
Compelling points dot both sides of the argument; so we’ve decided to put together the different perspectives from the discussion and weigh up which kind of travel is the best. We’ll look at the pros and cons of sticking to the standard spots as well as venturing off-the-beaten-track, and we’ll top it off with travel advice for both sides.
Pros & Cons of Popular Places
Pros:
- They’re popular for a reason: Ever heard the advice that you can judge how good a restaurant is by how many people we sitting inside eating? Well, this is the thinking that many travelers tend to go by when picking their next destination. Indeed some of Vietnam’s most popular tourist locations (Halong Bay, Sapa, Hoi An to name just a few) are well worth visiting for their rich culture and scenic beauty- crowds or no crowds. Right…?
- Good infrastructure: a well-developed tourism industry spurs on developments in other areas too, namely infrastructure. Generally speaking, places that draw a high level of visitors will have more money (and incentive) to improve things like access roads, ports of entry (airports, train stations, etc.), public transport, accommodation standards, restaurant selection, and other amenities.
- Easy to seek advice: places that enjoy high levels of tourism are more likely to have substantial amounts of reviews online (on websites like TripAdvisor) which you can use to make an informed decision about whether or not to visit/what to do there/best things to see, etc.
Cons:
- Expensive prices & common scams: The price of common good in tourist hotspots tend to be significantly inflated compared with their local counterparts, and getting charged “tourist prices” is usually a given. It’s basic economics; the more people visit, the higher the demand for accommodation/goods/services, and therefore our perception of ‘acceptable’ prices also goes up. Inflation is unavoidable. In the worst case, a few shady characters will set up scams to extort tourists for money wherever they can. While this happens all over the world in all different types of places, it generally tends to show up more in very touristy places (learn about the most common Halong scams here).
- Homogenised experience: Visiting a popular spot, by nature, means that your experience will be one that’s shared with many others. For some, this isn’t an issue at all, but others prefer to seek out a