The Project Of Developing New Tourism Product Ideas For Thang Long Imperial Citadel.pdf

Instructors: MBA Ngo Phuong Dung

Group members: Dang Thi Ngoc Anh 1706090010Pham Bich Thao 1706090074Doan Tran Huyen Trang 1706090085Mai Thanh Thuy 1806090104Luong Thi Thuy Trang 1706090088

Table of content

3 How do the findings inform your recommendations and final deliverables? 31

In 2010, the Thang Long Citadel of Vietnam was recognized as a World Cultural Heritage by theUnited Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) Currently, the ImperialCitadel of Thang Long is one of the most famous heritage sites in Hanoi which attracts bothdomestic and international visitors contributing an important role to tourism in the city Indeed,there were 230.459 arrivals of international tourists coming to the Imperial Citadel of ThangLong in 2019 (according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism) However, theThang Long Citadel of Vietnam still has problems hampering the tourism development of theheritage itself especially in the difficult period of pandemic covid 19 The heritage nowadays stillencounters the issue of lacking attractiveness and impression for tourists compared to the otherhistoric heritages in Hanoi and other Imperial heritages in the world Therefore, in this project,we implement the market research to understand deeply about the underserved needs of visitorsand potential customers when they are coming to Thang Long Imperial Citadel From that, wecan assess our ideas of new tour products to identify the possibility of them and optimize thebenefit to the community With the study of both primary and secondary data, we find theexperiences and lessons learned from good case studies about the same type of tourism productsin Vietnam and around the world, combining with conducting surveys and interviews to obtainthe psychology and need of travellers as well as management organisations to complete the bestfinal product We hope that, after a long time of researching and testing the products, our projectwill help the authorities to understand the customer market Furthermore, they can choose themost suitable and potential products to open in reality to attract tourists and brand the image forThang Long Citadel.

I Problem statement

The project “Tourism Product Development for Thang Long Imperial Citadel” is

conducted with the aim of creating unique tourism products to appeal to more tourists wholove exploring culture and history The customers come from different groups who can travel

alone or in groups; they can be students or people on the jobs They can live in different culturesand follow different histories; however, they have a desire to explore Vietnamese culture andhistory Moreover, the project also targets the management board of Thang Long IC; they takegreat responsibility for the preservation parallel with the effective exploitment of the heritage sothey take interest in the development of heritage tourism The commercial tourism company isanother object of the project; they bring the products of Thang Long IC to their tourists so theycare about the heritage tourism products there.

According to the Hanoimoi online newspapers, the conservation centre of Thang LongHeritage is focusing on building the brand for Thang Long Imperial Citadel as The heritagedestination in the heart of Hanoi Besides, since the field trip with the management board ofThang Long Imperial Citadel and the representatives of the travel companies in Hanoi, we haverealized the issues that Thang Long Imperial Citadel is facing Although the Thang LongImperial Citadel in recent years are creative to develop the diversity of products through theevents happening on the campus of this attraction, the tourism products of Thang Long ICrunning right now don’t still exploit almost the underserved value of the heritage due to the limitof conservation rules to the products for heritage.

Therefore, we would like to recommend the management board of Thang Long IC a project for notonly the situation of the COVID_19 pandemic but also for the future of Thang Long IC heritage.

We would like to run this project to address problems of 3 target objects above For the ThangLong Imperial citadel, this project will attract more people from different groups there to

exploit the core value of this heritage but still adapt the rules of preservation and also assists a

part of the preservation fee through the revenue of heritage tourism there For the TravelCompanies, the project will enrich the gallery of tourism products they are running; they can

gain profits from it and also conduct the responsibility in operation with the management boardof this heritage For the people who love experiencing culture and history of the heritage, this

project will improve their experience of the heritage; from that, they as the ambassador of theheritage will propagate the pretty image and the priceless value of Thang Long IC: culture andhistory to more and more potential visitors of Thang Long Imperial Citadel; therefore, ThangLong Imperial Citadel will be known wider and attract more attention of the people lovingheritage to explore and admire it.

II A literature review

Undeniably, relics or cultural heritage play an important role in the development of eachcountry In addition, cultural heritage also brings many significant economic benefits, namelytourism development This literature review defines the concept,benefits and tourismdevelopment issues of heritage and monuments Additionally, it illustrates what steps indeveloping a new product to apply in developing new tourism products To be specific, wesummarized some typical problems of tourism product development in the Thang Long imperialcitadel After that, we have suggested some ideas for enhancing the quality of tourism services inthe destination.

1 Concepts and benefits of heritage and monuments

a Heritage concepts

Heritage contains two elements of nature and culture According to the Oxford dictionary,heritage is a concept that includes history, traditions, architectural works and artifacts owned bythe country for many years, with an indispensable identity In Heritage: Management,Interpretation, Identity addresses two core issues of heritage: authenticity and interpretation(Peter Howard, 2003) In addition, according to UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection ofWorld Cultural and Natural Heritage, a monument is an integral part of the cultural heritage.

b Heritage classification

The Law on Cultural Heritage 2001 stipulates that cultural heritage includes tangiblecultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage In the measurement of cultural heritage,tangible products are products of historical, cultural and scientific value, includinghistorical-cultural relics, scenic spots, relics, antiquities and national treasures Intangible culturalheritage is a spiritual product associated with a community or an individual, objects and relatedcultural spaces, in addition to bringing historical and cultural values and expressing community

identity It is simultaneously reproduced and handed down from generation to generation byword of mouth, profession, performance and other forms (Law Bank, 2019).

c Culture heritage benefits

According to the Central Theoretical Council (2018), in 2017, Vietnam attracted 16million domestic and international visitors, earning more than 2,500 billion VND from entrancefees at eight cultural heritage sites alone Although there is a lot of potential for development, atpresent, the conservation and promotion of the value of the heritage are still limited andinadequate due to the lack of economic, scientific and technological resources (CentralTheoretical Council) , 2018) According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism(2018), heritage tourism not only creates income, jobs, motivation, but also creates resources topreserve and promote heritage values, while also actively supporting in improving the quality oflife, enhancing understanding, respecting diversity and interculturality, as a basis for formingappropriate codes of conduct between people, tourists and heritage Therefore, in order todevelop tourism in historical-cultural sites, especially national monuments, it is necessary tohave a new and long-term strategy, associated with sustainable tourism development One of theeffective ways is to encourage the community to create specific tourism products of each localityto serve the constantly changing needs of visitors, thereby contributing to improving the lives oflocal people (Central Theoretical Council, 2018) As a practical example, according to analysisfrom the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (2020), Huu Lien commune, Huu Lungdistrict, Lang Son province has actively invited tourism experts to come to build products withthe hope hope to develop in the direction of modernity while preserving the unique features ofLang culture.

Digging deeper into the positive correlation between the boom of tourism and heritage,especially cultural heritage, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (2018) has statedthat, the protection of cultural treasures of The country has been driven in part by tourism A partof revenue from heritage tourism is returned to reinvest in the conservation, embellishment,honor, restoration and management of heritage On the other hand, according to Trang An site(2019), one of the most obvious impacts when developing tourism in heritage areas on thecommunities there is to change the livelihood system, strategies, methods and traditional

livelihood resources such as human resources, natural resources, financial, material and socialresources.

2 Tourism product development

a Product development definition

Ulrich and Eppinger (2004) define new product development as “the process of a sequence ofactivities that begins with the perception of an opportunity in the market and ends with theproduction and release of the product" This concept is common to all product categories,including tourism products According to Middleton 1989 & Clarke 2001, Holloway & Robinson1995, Seaton & Bennett, Smith 1994, although tourism is considered as a service industry,authors writing about this discipline still use the term "product" instead of "service" when thecompany wants to launch a new project aimed at customer satisfaction.

Product development process

The book "Marketing Principles" by Kotler and Armstrong has a detailed explanation of the

8 main steps in a new product development process:

In particular, idea generation and idea screening are said to be the first two steps to help go tothe next step of developing and testing the first orientations of the product Then, as business andmarket research and analysis is done, a project for a new product is brought into the process.Finally, the actual market testing and commercialization of the product will end the process,determining the success and feasibility of the product.

Tourism product development definition

The World Tourism Organization defines tourism product development (Handbook ofTourism Product Management, 2011) in an aspect that can be considered to cover all factors thatvisitors to a destination come into contact with such as infrastructure (transportation, utilities),staff, accommodations, attractions and activities, facilities, and amenities On the other hand, itcan be defined as including only attractions or activities and facilities offered specifically tovisitors To simplify the complexities in market segmentation, Peter, one of the authors of thebook "Developing a new tourism product" has pointed out that developing tourism products ispart of a process large, interconnected, continuous and not isolated Different strategicdevelopment principles and priorities, one of which is tourism, is determined by the overalldevelopment policy of a destination.

b Principles of tourism product development with cultural heritage

In addition to the general provisions and conventions on UNESCO's heritage set out in theGuidelines for the Implementation of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, each country andterritory also has regulations or legal frameworks to protect heritage sites its own culturalheritage Particularly in Vietnam, there is a Law on Cultural Heritage and accompanying guidingdocuments In particular, each relic site and cultural heritage site has its own regulations Forexample, Hoi An has theHoi An Declaration on the Conservation of Historic Sites in Asia, the

Guidelines for the Conservation of Wooden Architectural Monuments (for relic owners), and theRegulations on the Management, Conservation and Use of Historic Monuments using the relics

of the ancient town of Hoi An In the International Charter on Cultural Tourism, adopted byICOMOS in 1999, it is mentioned that taking advantage of the economic advantages of heritagesites and exploiting them to create a source of support and education for the community andinfluence policy for conservation purposes In addition, the Law on Cultural Heritage dated June29, 2001; The Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on CulturalHeritage dated June 18, 2009 sets out limits on division of relic protection zones and zoning ofareas eligible for exploitation to develop products tourism products.

In addition, more specific regulations on the management and exploitation of heritage andrelics are reflected in the Decision No 48/2016/QD-UBND of the Hanoi People's Committee onthe promulgation of regulations on management, protect and promote the value of historical -cultural relics and scenic spots in the area of Hanoi City; Principles of conservation of historic

wooden structures (adopted by the International Council of Monuments and Sites - ICOMOS atthe 12th General Assembly in Mexico, October 1999).

The synthesis of literature reviews shows that it is extremely necessary to propose ideas tobuild and develop tourism products This helps to attract tourists as well as increase theeconomic value of the destination, solving employment problems for local people However,there are many factors that need to be considered when deciding to build and develop a newtourism product that is sustainable development, whether the implementation of that new tourismactivity will have an adverse impact on the heritage the property, historical site or not, and whatstandards and regulations should be applied when developing that new tourism product.

c Tourism development in Hanoi

According to the UNWTO classification of 9 different types of destinations, Hanoi is considered

as a historical city with ancient features as it moves deeper into the center with heritage

destinations full of historical value and human life in the capital of a thousand years ofcivilization The article "Hanoi develops tourism under the Thu Do brand" published on theNewspaper on September 14, 2017 made a very clear assessment of the direction and long-termstrategy of tourism development specific to Hanoi: With the advantage of a cultural depth ofthousands of years, the vestiges of which are a massive heritage system, unique landscapes andunique lifestyles of the people, Hanoi is taking advantage of this potential to create newproducts Specific tourism products attract domestic and foreign tourists If in the past, tourismproducts were developed with a variety of forms, in recent years, Hanoi's cultural, historical andecological values have been focused on exploiting, especially in the tourism industry inner cityarea It can be seen that the Thang Long heritage site associated with Ba Dinh square, Ho ChiMinh Mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh Museum, Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam is affirming tobe an important product chain of Hanoi Notably, Hanoi identified two key projects as the projectof preserving, embellishing and promoting the value of Co Loa Citadel (implementation time2018 - 2025) with a total investment of 7,400 billion VND from the source budget capital andsocialization; project of preserving, embellishing and promoting the historical and cultural values of Thang Long Imperial Citadel (implementation period 2017 - 2022) with a total investment of3,000 billion VND.

Among the options for developing tourism products, it is worth mentioning that the type of

night tourism is to explore the historical capital from a completely new perspective Science

Magazine Volume 14, Issue 5(2017) with the title "Evaluating the development of night tourismproducts in Hanoi city" is a comprehensive and complete view for this tourism product: Hanoithere are 4 potential factors for developing night tourism including a diverse and unique climatewith four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter; system of shops, commercial centersserving at night (closed quite late at 21-22 pm); The consumption behavior of young people witha hobby of exploring the capital at night is also a beautiful time for young people to experiencevarious forms of tourism without worrying about the sweltering heat or heat of the capital ; Thisalso originates from the trend of night tourism products that have been successfully developed byother provinces or countries and finally policies are being changed in favor of night tourism orcity security more and more stable Types of night tourism products include: Souvenir products,agricultural products sold at Hanoi night market, there are about 10 different large and smallnight markets, including Long Bien market, Crossroads market office, Quang Ba market, thenight market of the old quarter Night art shows such as cheo singing, tuong, water puppetry Food is an indispensable element when it becomes a feature of Hanoi with dishes diverse streets,especially in the Old Quarter area Finally, there are entertainments such as bars, clubs, pubs, etc.to attract young people However, it is easy to see that night tourism products in heritage sites arestill too rare and have not been developed Recently, the pioneer for the night heritage tourismproduct is the Hoa Lo night tour organized by Hanoitourist company Hanoi Newspaper recentlypublished an article "Impressive night tour at Hoa Lo ruins": Within the framework of theprogram "Promoting destinations - tourism Hanoi 2020", Hoa Lo Prison Relic ManagementBoard and Hanoitourist travel company inaugurated a night tour with the name "Sacred night -Shining Vietnamese spirit" The newly launched tourism product of the Capital has receivedmany positive feedbacks This tour has opened up a new idea for the development of nighttourism at the heritage sites in which the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long can be considered as apotential destination for tourism product development.

d Tourism development in Thang Long imperial citadelPrinciples for developing tourism products in heritage site

According to the 2005 Vietnam Tourism Law, the planned tourism development needs toharmonize the economy, society and the environment in order to conserve, embellish andpromote the value of tourism resources Products developed need to ensure national interests,

community interests and security and safety for tourists as well as the interests of individualsand tourism business organizations Article 34, chapter IV on protection and promotion oftangible cultural values, the 2001 Law on Cultural Heritage clearly states: “The preservation,restoration and restoration of relics must be built into projects and submitted to state agenciesfor approval approval authority and must ensure the maximum preservation of the originalelements of the monument Therefore, developing tourism products at a national heritage levelneeds to go through detailed censorship of the relic management organization.

Types of tourism products for heritage sites.

Master Phung Thi Hoa Le mentioned in the thesis "Research and development of tourismproducts at historical sites" two contents containing different types of tourism productdevelopment for heritage In terms of breadth, tourism product development includes anexpansion of the scale of tourism services, an increase in service types and a prolongation ofservice provision time For the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, it can be considered that the

exploitation of the 18 Hoang Dieu Archaeological site, the opening of costume rental

activities, fairs or more nighttime tour activities are examples for 3 types of activities.development mentioned above Besides, considering the depth factor, tourism productdevelopment will include improving service quality, perfecting the service system and linkingtourist attractions into a chain of destinations in the tour.

Potential aspects

Viewed from the perspective of objective reality, Thang Long Imperial Citadel convergesmany factors to become a "highlight" of Hanoi capital and more broadly of Vietnam Firstly,located right in the city center, next to many other historical monuments, Thang Long ImperialCitadel is still outstanding as a world cultural heritage recognized by UNESCO In fact, thisplace is not only a tangible cultural heritage but also contains a significant part of the nationalcultural beauty In terms of tangible cultural heritage, the Imperial Citadel of

Thang Long is a massive architectural work Over time and historical events, Thang LongCitadel has had many changes and deformations, but up to now, there are still visible relics onthe ground, underground, revolutionary historical relics, relics Archaeological sites,architectural and artistic relics, etc form a system of monuments that are considered the mostimportant in the system of ancient, middle, near and modern urban relics of our country(Department of Tourism) Hanoi City) Currently, in the central area of Thang Long - Hanoi

Citadel, there are 5 floating relics on the ground distributed along the North - South axis, alsoknown as the "main axis", "The axis of the throne", including: : Ky Dai, Doan Mon, KinhThien, Hau Lau, Bac Mon palaces, wall and gate architecture of Nguyen Dynasty, relics ofhouse and cellar D67, French architectural works In which, Doan Mon was ranked as anational monument on April 6, 1999 This was followed by the Thien Thien Palace, the mainnucleus of the overall remaining relics here, which is considered as “one of the masterpieces ofarchitecture” All the relics here bring great values in terms of history, architecture, art andarcheology, for example, in terms of historical value, according to the Hanoi Department ofTourism At all stages of the nation's history, Thang Long - Hanoi, whose center and symbol isthe Citadel, is always the place where Vietnamese culture converges and shines to all regionsof the country This place used to be a gathering place for talented people from all over thecountry In terms of architectural value, this is one of the typical manifestations of absorbingand combining Western-style fortification techniques with the ideas of a Chinese-style city Allthese structures conform to the requirements of traditional feng shui geography; they were builtin favorable locations - where the unusual features of nature, especially the river system, werefully utilized In terms of archaeological value, at the archaeological site of 18 Hoang Dieu,important palace vestiges were found Experiencing 10 centuries with the destruction of war,harsh natural conditions, architectural vestiges, relics of the old palace are still relatively wellpreserved in the ground In particular, in the relic area, many foreign utensils and items are alsofound, such as porcelain from West Asia, China, Japan, etc., showing the close culturalexchange between countries (Department of traveling Hanoi).

Problem of tourism development in Thang Long imperial citadel

Although there is a lot of potential, the conservation and tourism development here is stilllimited and has not really attracted tourists Former Chairman of the Hanoi TourismAssociation Nguyen Quang Lan said that 52,000 people coming to the relic in 2019 thought itwas large but not commensurate with the potential and strengths of this destination In fact, theRoyal Palace is the heart and soul of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, but visitors still haveto use their imagination a lot based on historical records and narrators, instead of immersingthemselves in it and feel (Legal Newspaper, 2020) So the question is how the monuments orarchaeological relics are not merely artifacts, a mark of a time, but also a place where visitorscan satisfy their curiosity and desire to explore and protect this special cultural heritage?

Case studies for developing a new tourism product in Thang Long imperialcitadel

In fact, a measure that has been and is being implemented here is the contribution of tourismproducts, associated with the typical values of the ancient capital as well as our country Forthe issue of developing tourism products for the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, there havebeen many previous studies by experts in the tourism industry written on this issue Van HienVietnam Magazine synthesizes comments and opinions from leading tourism experts toimprove the quality of tourism products at Hoang Thanh In it, Mr Luu Duc Ke, Director ofHanoitourist said: “As a business, we immediately think of value-added services when visiting,but in reality the service in the Imperial Citadel is few and poor Therefore, in order to attracttourists and make the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long become a destination not to be missed,the Thang Long - Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center needs to build lively complementaryactivities." Those complementary activities can be vivid images such as 3D images of KinhThien Palace or organizing annual events such as "Quang Chieu Lantern Festival" on an annualbasis (According to Mr Mai Tien Dung, Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Culture,Sports and Tourism) In fact, these events in Hoi An and Hanoi's Old Quarter are also heldregularly and are highly appreciated by visitors The Thang Long - Hanoi HeritageConservation Center needs to be linked with the system of monuments and tourist attractions toform a product chain such as connecting with the Hanoi Old Quarter - Van Mieu Quoc TuGiam - Uncle Ho's Mausoleum to attract tourists guest Thereby forming the idea of creating aproduct linking Thang Long Imperial Citadel - Van Mieu Quoc Tu Giam - Dong Ngac ancientvillage This connection will allow visitors to visit the tour to understand more about theprocess of honoring Vietnamese religion: From being born and growing up in a village, goingto university (Temple of Literature), then becoming an official in the imperial court therebyleaving a deep impression on visitors" This is a creative idea made since the beginning of2014 In addition, the Vietnam Tourism Association has also made a contribution to the art andcultural space with the design of cultural and art space according to its own dynasties and inaddition, a photography service to promote the Imperial Citadel from tourists In fact, this sameidea was applied to the indoor exhibition area of the Imperial Citadel with the layout of thedynasties according to the historical line and achieved certain effects However, the service ofphotography or rental of costumes encountered failures in marketing and promoting Hoang

Thanh Although enhancing the experience of historical discovery, Hoang Thanh's productshave not really attracted tourists From the perspective of the Vision Travel Company, therestoration in the form of an antique will be a unique feature that brings the details to life andattracts tourists Imperial Citadel of Thang Long is always an urgent issue to carry out researchprojects as well as graduate theses in the tourism industry because of the problems that need tobe found solutions here A very specific essay by students of Hai Phong private university gavea series of seven solutions to the current situation of Hoang Thanh, including buildingassociated with conservation, diversifying services, and linking with companies travel andsolving human resource problems…

Despite the variety of suggestions, no study has really gone into detail about surveying oranalyzing a particular type of service Therefore, the old studies still only revolved aroundreiterating the importance of the problem at Hoang Thanh, but did not focus on researching andtesting solutions, putting a specific way to operate in the market as well as exploring customerstatus on the suitability of the new product Therefore, specializing a product type, building itin a specific project and finding out customer opinions, analyzing that project according tomarket size as well as practicality requires a detailed study save and invest more.

III Method of inquiry

Our project started on 26/1/2021 with the participation of 5 members To provide this researchwith the appropriate and accurate data, our research group used two main methods of researchingdata: quantitative and qualitative.

1 Quantitative approach

During our conducting process, we had planned and carried out two surveys in the differentperiod of the project with the distinctive purpose that are “Ancient Costume Event Survey” and“Developing new ideas for Thang Long Imperial Citadel survey”

Ancient Costume Event Survey

With the aim of investigating the tourist’s demand to the current products of Thang Long IC tobrainstorm the general ideas for new products, we designed the survey for about 100 domestictourists with the questionnaire made in the qualitative method about the percentage of eachtourist’s purpose when visiting Thang long IC as well as the the satisfactory level of tourists to

current products there The survey was conducted from 7/2/2021 to 15/2/2021 in the group oftourism such as Halo Travel and so on and gained 102 responses from domestic tourists indifferent groups of age.

Developing new ideas for Thang Long Imperial Citadel survey

With the aim of researching the feedback of tourists about our new products for Thang Long IC,we made another questionnaire for all new ideas to assess the tourist’s attention to each idea Thetime for designing and conducting surveys lasted from 15/3/2021 to 20/3/2021 After this time,we received 196 responses about our new ideas related to the appealing level of the idea, theimportance of each element in this idea, their willingness to pay and the impact to heritageconservation.

2 Qualitative approach

To have deep feedback about new ideas for developing the products of Thang Long IC, ourresearch group conducted interviews with three groups: tourism experts, Travel Company andThang Long Imperial Citadel guides.

Tourism Experts

We arranged the seminar with Dr Bada, who is a heritage expert from Indonesia, sent an email tomake plans to interview him about the impact of new products to the Thang Long heritage.During this time, we designed an interview question list and prepared devices to record theonline seminar with Dr Bada During nearly one hour of the seminar, We conducted this throughthe Google meeting and recorded in two types: voice record and text.

Besides, we made a meeting with another Hanoi tourism experts who are Mr Phung QuangThang - Vice President of Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA) Through the discussionwith Mr Thang, we received his useful comment about the feasibility of each ideas andrecommendations for building our tourism products completely.

Travel Company

To have a multi-directional view about our new ideas, we conducted the interview with sometourism experts from travel companies in Hanoi that often make tours in Thang Long IC Wehave a face-to-face interview with the manager of Thao Nguyen Travel and Service Company toask for feedback about the potential of new ideas if they are conducted in real time.

Tour Guide in Hanoi

We conducted the interview with three Tour Guides in Hanoi who are Mr Tho, Mr Dan and Mr.Tuan All of the interviews happened inthe offline meetings and the results of the interview is thefeedback of local guides about the new ideas and their recommendation to the new ideas.

IV Results of the projects1 What are the findings?

a General findings

Firstly, we have conducted a quantitative research method To add factual evidence to all

four ideas, we conducted a survey with questions that focused on tourists' opinions and feelingswhen visiting the Imperial Citadel and reading through descriptions of the four ideas above Thefirst part of the survey will be questions directly related to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Longand the tourism services available here The rest of the survey will include overview questionsfor all four product ideas Our target audience is both foreign and domestic customers, of variousages, incomes, statuses, etc.

According to the survey results, more than 40% of survey respondents visited the ImperialCitadel on their own, with no clear purpose other than to visit the Imperial Citadel The numberof people who came to the Imperial Citadel for the purpose of taking pictures accounted for 1/4

of the survey participants The rest went to the Imperial Citadel to participate in other events andactivities held here The number of people who come here on a tour in Hanoi, as well as for the

purpose of learning and research, is only a minority That shows the attraction of the Imperial

Citadel does not lie in sightseeing products but mainly from other indirect sources.

When asked about the satisfaction of visitors with the existing activities at the Imperial Citadel,

47 out of 102 visitors felt unsatisfied with the service of the Imperial Citadel Among theresponses about dissatisfaction with the service, the main comments were that activities of the

destination are not attractive enough for young customers or lack of activities to remember

and evoke historical milestones History or activities that recreate the scene of the ancientImperial Citadel.

The table above demonstrates the factor has a large impact on the decision of travelling to aheritage site in general In fact, the majority of the audience (85.2%) consider the special

value and meaning of the heritage site as a priority factor In addition, activities,authenticity and high quality services are appreciated in the percentage of 63.8%, 48.5%

and 42.9% in turn It is easy to understand why many people in the survey prioritize howfar the destination is far from the city centre and other destinations In Hanoi, the traffic isvery intense This can be one of the reasons why people desire to take an expedition whichcombines all easy to transit places Moreover, the amount of time of each tour package islimited to 1 or 2 hours so that tourists want to experience as many must-see destinations aspossible.

b Specific findings for 4 ideas

Decoding the secret of the Imperial Citadel

Decoding the Royal Citadel received the most attention with 189/196 peopleparticipating in the survey In which, about 94% of the participants rated at the followinglevels: interested (level 3), interested (level 4), extremely interested (level 5); more than ⅓of the survey group feel interested in the idea of Decoding the Secret and this is also therating chosen by the most people.

In the rating group from interested to extremely interested in Deciphering the RoyalCitadel, the group of guests aged "18-25 years old" accounted for the largest number with81/177 responses (~45.7%), according followed by the “under 18” group that paid thesecond most attention to products with 27% In general, the potential customers of this ideaare young people aged from under 18 to 25 years old.

With the target group from interested to extremely interested in the idea of Decoding theRoyal Citadel, most of them have an income of less than 5 million VND/month, the number ofpeople with income 5-10 million takes second place with 25/177 people.

In order to investigate the importance of each element in product planning for all types ofcustomers, the research team conducted a survey of 191 people of all ages showing that “Thequestion has educational significance” as well as “The dramatic game content “is of the mostinterest to visitors “Having a team to play” and “A good guide” are also factors that need to befocused on to create the success of this product.

When asked what visitors think about the impact of this product on the preservation of theImperial Citadel heritage, up to 60% of the participants said that this product has an impact onconservation - what is considered a priority target of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long.

Linking the age of survey participants who are really interested in the Hoang Thanh SecretDecryption product with their expected level of payment, we can see the level of payment by agegroup The 2 age groups that are considered as potential customers of this product are 18-25years old and under 18 years old, their payment level is mainly 50,000 - 100,000 VND.

Traditional costumes rental

Although it did not receive much attention through a name like the idea of Decoding the ImperialCitadel, most of the voters expressed their preference for this ancient costume idea According to

the specific number on the chart, it is estimated that 96% of participants feel interested in theidea, including 66 votes for this idea with the highest interest (accounting for nearly 50%) Ascan be seen, the idea of the ancient costume received very positive feedback from interestedpeople.

Recognizing the visitors who are interested in the idea of the antique dress, we have screenedand built a chart by age corresponding to finding potential customers In particular, the numbersshow that the people who love the idea of the dress code are mostly young generations, teenagersand young adults The age group 18-25 belongs to the age group with the highest voting rate (74people), next, ranked second is the under-18 age group, with 42 people.

Thereby, we can build a file of potential customers with specific information about their needsand desires, and maximize visitors' satisfaction with this activity.

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When choosing the most important factors when participating in this service, most tourists haverelatively similar choices As a service related to traditional costumes with photos, there arealways top concerns such as: costumes, space and accompanying services such as photographyor related events More specifically, the most important factor that received nearly 88% of theparticipants was Beautiful dress, followed by the check-in corners with 65%, corresponding to105 votes.

Tracking the relationship between age and the level of payment for the idea of the ancientcostumes, we can see a close connection between these two variables Because our potentialcustomers are young people between the ages of under 18 and 18-25, we focus on exploitingcustomer behavior through the price they are willing to pay for a service like Ancient Dress Themajority of these 2 subjects voted for an average ticket price of 50,000 VND to 100,000 VND(with 57% of 18-25 year olds and 54% of under 18 age group).

A royal tea performance.

Similar to the above activities, interested visitors all showed interest after being brieflyintroduced to the concept content For tea enjoyment in particular, 95% of the survey participantsare interested in this activity according to the level of preference from 3 to 5 In which, up to40% belong to the group of extremely interested (level 5).

The majority of tea-loving guests are young people, under 18 and 18-25 years old, respectively,with 42 and 67 votes out of 173 responses, respectively However, out of the four ideaspresented, this is the activity that receives the most interest from middle-aged people (group36-45 and over 45 years old).

Of all the factors assessed that will affect the quality of the Tea Enjoying activity, there are twofactors that are tea quality and space, which are of particular interest to participants accountedfor 82% of interested subjects, it can be said that tea quality is the top priority for the choice of a

tea ceremony Tea space plays the second most important role, comprising 78% of theparticipants This is the biggest strength when organizing a Tea Ceremony at Thang LongImperial Citadel In addition to the quiet space, quiet mind, this place also brings a sacred andunique feeling with royal tea In addition, other factors that are also chosen by tourists as anecessary element to create a quality tea ceremony are the style of service, artisans, and price,with the number of votes accounted for in turn from 47% to 66%.

Similar to other ideas, the majority of potential customers of Thuong Tra activity have incomefrom less than 5 million VND monthly They are people with low income, so their willingness topay is not high.

Based on the two main age groups that are likely to become potential customers with the idea of Taking Tea at the Imperial Citadel, the amount that the participants pay for this activity alsofluctuates mainly in the price range from 50,000 VND to 100,000 VND Particularly for peopleover 45 years old, they have many different levels of willingness to pay and are not inclined toone price It can be said that the ticket price for this age is not really as important as the youngpeople, they decide to participate mainly because of the active content rather than the price.

Court Ceremonial Performance in Thang Long Imperial citadel

With 146 people out of 196 people participating in the "Survey on ideas for developing newtourism products of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long", the research results show that 37% ofthe participants rated "extremely favorite" "Thien Trieu product More than ½ of the participantsrated it as interesting or loved this product It can be seen that this is also an idea that received alot of response from the survey group.

To assess the potential age for this product, the team ran the data in the group of subjects ratedfrom "interested" to "extremely interested" on a scale of 3-5/5 and got the results as follows:chart below The group of potential customers of this product is customers from "18-25 yearsold" accounting for 49.3% and followed by the group "Under 18" with 27% In addition, group36-45 is also a potential customer group for this product because this group of customers oftengoes with the group "under 18 years old".

Because the main age groups of customers who love Tie Trieu are "18-25 years old" and "under18 years old", the monthly income of this product's potential customers is mainly "under 5million VND", accounting for 83 / 122 people fill in the answer It is also a suggestion for theresearch team when setting the ticket price for this product.

Out of a total of 147 survey participants for this product, the team took the results of all of themto give the most objective view for this product The factors that many customers are interestedin if they choose this product are "Scenario" (78.9%), details "close to the history" of Vietnam(72.8%), "Space" recreating the historical context that history accounts for 70.7% In addition,"music" creating a historical atmosphere is also of great interest to many visitors.

In a survey on the impact of products on heritage conservation, more than 46% of people rated itas having a "very large impact" (level 5/5) on the heritage of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long.More than a third of implementers said that this product had a "great impact" on the heritage ofthe Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, with only 2.7% saying it had little impact on thepreservation of this heritage.

Secondly, we have applied qualitative methods to prove our assumption at the beginning of the

project We have had face to face interviews and discussion with tourism professors like tourguides, tour company owners and foreign tourism experts.

In fact, we asked about how tourists think about the cultural interaction between tour guides andthemselves Pham Anh Tuan, tour guide of Hanoi backstreet tour said: “At first, they felt verysurprised, because the cultural exchange between the two sides is very different Since we leadmainly from Europe, a lot, when comparing the lifestyle of Europeans with Vietnamese people,they see a very different gap At first, they were confused, just like participating in traffic on thestreet, they were very scared However, when they started later, they gradually talked withVietnamese people, lifestyle and culture, they felt very interested and knew more about whatthey did not understand.

Moreover, we wondered whether tourism activities at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long wereattractive enough for tourists In fact, all three guests said no when they were asked Specifically,

Mr Nguyen Van Tho, founder of Hanoi backstreet tour shared his opinion: “It started for two

reasons The first reason is the organization, arrangement and presentation, because the display isvery poor while the guest museums around the world are very monumental Thang Long Citadel

has not done so Museums and artifacts are nothing special I remember once when I took gueststhere, after watching, guests just said "OK" is a very normal thing, they were polite, so they saidthat, but could not make them say "Wow".

The second reason is due to little promotion and marketing For example, his tour group of 100people, but only a few, even one person requested to go to this place even though it is locatedright in the center of Hanoi, near Uncle Ho's Mausoleum, near the Temple of Literature and hascultural value culture, history.

Moreover, Mr Dan, a tour guide of Crossing Vietnam Tour company, made a very thoughtful

comment: "Most of the activities in Thang Long Imperial Citadel are not really lively andattractive, tourists I still have to imagine a lot for myself, especially the polite facts mentionedabout the dynasties of Vietnamese kings”.

In particular, we asked for their opinion on some relatively new ideas and predicted that they

have economic potential such as night tourism activities here as well as in Hanoi Mr Tuan is

very excited to share: “Night travel? This is pretty cool In fact, it's good at some points becauseif you compare the lifestyles of Hanoians and Saigon people, in Saigon they develop more of anightlife style And to talk about places to hang out in Hanoi at night, there are not many, forexample, gathering places for young people, I can immediately mention Ta Hien Street, or someother places to hang out But when it comes to products and services, I think the development ofnight services is not much, but if there is, I feel very good." Having the same opinion when askedabout night tourism, especially tea, Mr Tho shared: "I think it will be very good, with such aspace, it is very very wonderful Because right after Hau Lau, Kinh Thien Palace, there arehistorical sediments, it will be very good, very wonderful And the feature of enjoying tea andtea ceremony is a very good feature, a characteristic of Asian people that each country has itsown features The tea ceremony of Japan, China and Vietnam also has a culture of enjoying tea,culinary and cultural features I think it will be even better than the fair and it will be morerealistic.”

On the issue related to the preservation of historical sites, we have a face-to-face interview with

Professor Bada, Malaysia He affirmed that the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long needs to bemore organized and systematic than internal and external tourism activities, in terms of

schedules, rules when visiting, etc He also said that to balance tourism and conservationactivities, the management of Thang Long Imperial Citadel and tourism companies need to

control the maximum number of visitors allowed, use fences to separate prohibited areas, and

increase ticket prices Entrance is also a measure to increase the attention of visitors to heritageconservation.

2 What did you learn?

According to findings above, we have a deeper insight in the potential of our project and somechallenges or obstacles First of all, we recognized that the destination is not really appreciatedby tourists, especially younger people in terms of attractive activities However, in order to get aspecific picture of the project, we had taken advantage of experienced people who are superinterested in tourism development ideas During our face to face talk, we realized many factsabout weaknesses of tourism products in the Thang Long imperial citadel and also got moredetail on the potentials of the destination To be honest, we see the positive future even inchallenging times, Covid 19 pandemic Secondly, we had an online discussion with Dr Bada, atourism professor He has traveled to many countries, especially Asian ones He shared ourrealistic opinions about tourism product development in heritage sites in Asian In fact, werecognized Asian tourists will be one of the most potential customers of our project because ofthe similarity in culture, the curiosity in history and the diversity of tourism products in heritagesites.

3 How do the findings inform your recommendations and final deliverables?

To be honest, the findings play an important role in our further ideas in the future Firstly, it isuseful for us to make a decision of what targeted tourist we had better focus on right now Thefindings show the feasibility to develop four tourism products later The majority of targetedaudience - younger people (18-25) is very motivated by those new tourism products Moreover,Vietnam is known as one of the most young countries because of the high percentage of youngerpeople, as compared to other Asian countries like Japan Therefore, this is a big deal if we canapply and promote those ideas for the younger generation Secondly, the opinion of memberform tour companies will be an extremely valuable asset for future improvement anddevelopment We can have a chance to look back at four ideas and focus on the most potential ofeach.