Assessment of the Current Status of Seafood Cuisine Business in Tourism Activities in Ha Long

2.7 Summary

The presentation of dishes and drinks of the Ha Long sea area shows that the diversity and abundance of seafood resources have been the foundation for the culinary appearance of the Ha Long-Quang Ninh sea area, which is not confused with any other sea area in Vietnam. The dishes that the writer presented above are mostly daily dishes of the Ha Long people, some are high-class dishes classified as delicacies... Simple but not monotonous, rich but not fussy... all have created a general appearance of Ha Long sea cuisine.

When researching the culinary culture of Ha Long, the author focused on mentioning in detail the ingredients and the way of preparing the dishes and looking at it from a cultural perspective with the aim of helping tourists understand the characteristics of this sea area. From a business perspective, this will be the strength of Ha Long sea tourism that can attract tourists in addition to other types of sea tourism. Coming to Ha Long to enjoy Ha Long seafood is also to learn about the customs and culture of Ha Long, how interesting!

Throughout the "silver sea" of Vietnam, shrimp, fish, crab, and squid are everywhere, so it is difficult to consider them as specialties. However, with the processing methods and habits and ingredients of each locality, the common nature has been distinguished into specialties, unique to the region, creating attraction for diners and tourists. With ruoi gan, cha muc... are the evidences that create the brand "Ha Long sea cuisine". When enjoying cuisine, the impression of learning, the strange taste when enjoying the food, the harmony in the soul, the sympathy in perception, often become "regional specialties". Therefore, if there is a convergence of the above 3 factors, "Ha Long sea cuisine" will be an unforgettable name in the hearts of tourists near and far.

Maybe you are interested!

CHAPTER 3

SOME ASSESSMENTS AND SOLUTIONS

EXPLOITING HA LONG CUISINE TO SERVE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

3.1 Assessment of the current status of seafood cuisine business in tourism activities in Ha Long

Along with the process of comprehensive national renovation, Vietnam's tourism industry has become one of the promising economic sectors contributing to the national budget. Among all types of tourism, sea tourism is one of the most attractive types of tourism for domestic and international tourists. According to statistics from UN WTO (2006), more than 70% of tourists surveyed answered that they like to travel to the sea. Therefore, many coastal areas of our country are in the process of rapid urbanization, many coastal cities are expanding alongside many new coastal cities. Ha Long (Quang Ninh) is in the chain of coastal cities of the country such as Hai Phong, Khanh Hoa, Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City, which is identified by the state as one of the major tourist centers of the country and an important area in the northern economic growth triangle of Hanoi-Hai Phong-Quang Ninh. With a long coastline, combined with a world natural heritage site, Quang Ninh sea tourism has brought great results. Among them, it is impossible not to mention the important role of seafood food and beverage business activities. Besides the types of sea tourism that are being exploited such as: resort tourism, sightseeing tourism, beach tourism, research tourism, sports tourism... culinary tourism is a new type of tourism with great potential. Traveling and enjoying food is not only a daily need, but more importantly, cuisine is like the "glue" that connects tourists with each land they set foot on, helping them understand more about the culinary style and local cultural identity.

With a quick and sharp business mindset, many businesses have used fresh seafood to process into many unique dishes to meet the diverse needs of customers, thereby contributing to attracting more and more visitors to Ha Long.

It can be said that food and beverage is a quite vibrant business that brings in large revenue for tourism activities here. First of all, we must mention the system of very diverse dining establishments. Most hotels and motels serve food and beverage. Currently, Ha Long has about 300 hotels and motels with over 4,000 rooms. In addition, there are 234 private restaurants and eateries specializing in seafood dishes, sea specialties such as lobster, fish, crab, clams, geoducks, squid and European and Asian dishes (Non Nuoc Ha Long - Thi Sanh). In particular, in Ha Long Bay, there is also a system of seafood rafts that are always ready to serve tourists right on the seafood rafts with dishes made from fresh seafood. Tourists will be able to choose for processing themselves. One of the most famous culinary places, "everyone in Ha Long knows" is the bustling raft area in Column 5, Hong Ha Ward. A series of floating houses are brightly lit, effectively assisted by dozens of boats always ready to pick up and drop off guests . Prices in the floating houses are also reasonable, only about 100,000-200,000 VND/person, and you can enjoy unforgettable dishes from the ocean: grilled blood cockles, steamed clams with lemongrass, clams stir-fried with vermicelli, salt-roasted shrimp, steamed grouper with soy sauce. Then there is boiled squid with ginger fish sauce, squid rolls, mackerel rolls... Eating and drinking in the salty air, "warm in winter, cool in summer", floating as if you were in the middle of the ocean, and enjoying dishes from swimming sea animals, prepared right before your eyes, served on the table while still steaming, what could be better!

Tourists who organize their own trips and do not buy tours from travel agencies often eat a la carte. Tourists who travel on tours eat according to pre-ordered standards. These meals usually only include common seafood, and tourists rarely get to enjoy seafood dishes.

high-class products.... Therefore, if you want to feel the beauty and most importantly the deliciousness of the cuisine of Ha Long sea, visitors should choose for themselves addresses that suit their budget and preferences. If you are a student or an ordinary employee traveling with your family, you can choose popular restaurants that are also very delicious and the prices are of course very affordable! If your income is higher, you can choose high-class restaurants - where there are young female staff who are always ready to serve you enthusiastically in the beautiful and magnificent space of the restaurant such as the restaurant at the 4-star Saigon-Ha Long hotel, Ha Long pearl hotel,... In general, Ha Long culinary culture has the strong identity of an ancient sea area and it is a priceless tourism resource that contributes to enriching the tourism potential of Ha Long.

However, Ha Long's food and beverage business is mostly run by private households. These households rent small areas, and rent for one year at a time. Therefore, these households do not invest much in infrastructure and technical facilities, and operate on a seasonal basis. Therefore, when you come to Ha Long, you will see many restaurants built very temporarily.

Prices in restaurants are also a major problem in Ha Long. Because for the majority of Ha Long restaurants, the tourist season is also the... business season. People still jokingly say that those who do tourism business only need to work 3 months in the summer to make a living all year round. A few months ago, in the cold weather, An - a tourist in Da Nang - brought his relatives to Ha Long. Stopped by a cheap restaurant to eat a plate of mixed fried rice for 20,000 VND/plate. Still the same restaurant, still the same fried rice, had to pay 50,000 VND/plate to the restaurant owner (That is to carefully ask the price before eating. If you are polite and do not ask the price before eating, the price may increase by one and a half or double). According to the regulations of the tourism development service center, the prices of restaurant dishes must be posted. But this regulation is not thoroughly implemented, there is still a phenomenon of "ripping off". It makes a bad impression on tourists. This also contributes to

significantly affects the favorable view of tourists for Ha Long tourism activities. Besides, the dishes in Ha Long are also prepared in a monotonous way, presented in an unattractive way, leaving a faded impression in the hearts of tourists.

Every year, on April 25, the traditional opening day of Ha Long tourism, the Carnavan festival is held, attracting a large number of tourists from all over the country to attend. Therefore, the food and beverage business is more bustling than ever. Visitors from all over the country flock to: Hai Duong, Hanoi, Lang Son, Thai Binh... further, there are visitors from other coastal cities such as Da Nang, Vung Tau... They come to Ha Long, in addition to the need to visit and swim, they are also eager to enjoy fresh dishes from Ha Long seafood specialties. Tourists to Ha Long beach are very diverse, both domestic and international. Therefore, shop owners focus on exploiting many types of seafood to serve a large number of tourists, regardless of whether they have high or low income. For example: exploiting seafood products that are relatively popular and suitable for many people's budgets, especially domestic customers such as: shrimp, crab, clam, crab, oyster... High-class products for luxury customers or international customers such as: sea worms, abalone.... The novelty and attraction of these restaurants lies mainly in the restaurant's location, spacious, airy, close to the sea such as the Royal restaurant located right in the Royal park, the seafood restaurant overlooking the sea....

Restaurants in Ha Long have gradually grasped the preferences of each customer group. However, the top concerns for food and beverage businesses here are: Food hygiene, drinks, service quality and price. Especially the issue of food hygiene and safety, this is one of the top principles and requirements for restaurants in the food and beverage business. in 2009, and especially in the summer - the beach tourism season is often the time of cholera outbreaks. The lack of responsibility, the desire for immediate profits, using rotten food to prepare food for tourists

Guests will cause food safety loss, greatly affecting the health of tourists and the long-term reputation of restaurants in Ha Long.

Besides the food business in the tourist area, Ha Long seafood is also exported to neighboring provinces so that when tourists come to Ha Long, they can bring back a little taste of the sea as a gift for friends and relatives.

In addition to the seafood business in the tourist area, in Ha Long city, there is also a network of restaurants specializing in seafood. Compared to restaurants located in the tourist center, the restaurants here are not as beautiful because they are not close to the sea, the air is not as fresh, but in return, the dishes are prepared more elaborately, diversely by famous chefs, this contributes to creating a relatively professional culinary style and service style. Although the price is higher, when coming to these restaurants, visitors can be completely assured of the freshness of seafood ingredients such as the blue sea restaurant, the cloud afternoon seafood restaurant...

Besides the marine resources, Ha Long is also a place with many valuable humanistic tourism resources. Therefore, Ha Long Quang Ninh has become a meeting place for many tourists when they come to visit and explore. Although they may come to Ha Long for a short time, visitors will certainly be acquainted with the culinary culture of Ha Long by enjoying dishes at restaurants specializing in Ha Long seafood.

For Vietnamese people, the image of markets has become something very familiar, markets appear in poems, even in paintings. These are markets that are viewed from an emotional and artistic perspective, a place to exchange feelings. In fact, markets today are understood as places to buy and sell goods, a typical economic feature of each region, each locality. A bustling market with many seafood products is a manifestation of economic prosperity... If you go to a highland market to buy products from the mountains and forests, then when you go to a seafood market of coastal people, of course you cannot ignore buying fresh seafood.

Seafood is a rich resource of Ha Long sea. Besides selling these specialties in restaurants, trading through the market system will help promote more deeply and widely the image of Ha Long sea cuisine to friends and tourists from all over the country.

Becoming a traditional occupation of the people of Ha Long coastal area, during the fishing season, people bring shrimp, crab, fish... to the markets to sell and buy food and raw materials for their work. The markets near the fishing grounds and wharves are full of all kinds of fresh seafood, and the markets in the inner city are also full of fish and shrimp. Therefore, the eating style of urban people is also influenced by the eating style of coastal people.

As a place that attracts many tourists to visit and shop, "Ha Long Market" has become familiar to the people of the mining land as well as to visitors from far away because this is a place that sells a variety of seafood, the most famous of Ha Long city. The market is located in the center of Ha Long city. This is the commercial wholesale market of Quang Ninh province. The goods here are quite diverse, from common goods to high-end goods, most of which are made in China. The market is built spaciously, the stalls are arranged in an orderly and scientific manner; thanks to that, customers can easily find the items according to their needs. The seafood here is fresh and cheap. Especially in Ha Long market, there is a dish of squid cake, the service for this dish is arranged in a long row in the market. This is the unique feature of Ha Long market. The hot fried squid cake dish, giving off a very attractive aroma, making it difficult for diners to refuse to try it once and then remember it forever.

Not only squid rolls When coming here to visit and shop, you will be dazzled by the rich diversity of fresh seafood products. With a large scale, along with the reasonable arrangement between seafood stalls, making it easy for buyers to choose delicious products from the sea such as mackerel, tuna, shrimp, blue crab, sea worms... in the aerated fish tanks there are all kinds of big and small fish such as cobia, grouper, eel, goby, snapper, mackerel,

... On the large fish trays, the crustacean family of sea crabs is also tied neatly. Next to that are varieties of roe crabs, water crabs with light yellow shells with few flowers, round aprons; meat crabs with dark shells, spotted flowers, long aprons...

The molluscs in Ha Long market are also very rich: squid, cuttlefish, cuttlefish, sea clams, blood cockles of all kinds and even Van Don geoducks. Fresh seafood is gathered at Ha Long market and from here is also transferred to Hanoi, to Hai Phong to supply to restaurants in the city that have booked in advance. That is why in the morning this place is often bustling with buyers and sellers. To keep seafood fresh for three days to a few weeks is both difficult and arduous work. People in the market often put shrimp, crabs and fish in tanks of seawater with a higher salinity than Ha Long seawater, then deliver the goods and find ways to preserve them in other tanks so that the shrimp and crabs do not die and lose weight.

Thus, knowing how to enjoy fresh seafood is not an easy job, requiring the business person to have a lot of experience with seafood and that is why Ha Long market has become famous far and wide, every time coming to Ha Long, tourists often stop by the market to buy fresh seafood to process immediately or buy some dried food as gifts, which is very meaningful for the trip to Ha Long beach. Ha Long market has been included in the tour to Ha Long by some travel companies. Therefore, Ha Long market has become a brand promoting seafood specialties.

Besides the seafood market, in Ha Long, there is a new and more attractive form of business: the Food Fair.

In recent years, recognizing the important role of food and beverage in tourism activities, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Ninh has cooperated with businesses, investors and local people to organize food fairs. As one of the outstanding activities of the Ha Long Tourism Festival 2009, the Food Culture Festival of the Northern provinces and cities has attracted a large number of tourists to visit and enjoy the specialties of the provinces and cities.

Comment