The mausoleum is set in a large area, but we couldn’t
see it the day we were in Hanoi as a parade was underway and the area was cordoned
off. Still, the streets, houses and areas around it were nice to walk about,
giving a great feel of the culture, architecture and history of the city of
Hanoi. For Indians, the whole area would look very familiar, as it looks quite
like Delhi in many ways.
Once on the waters of Ha Long Bay, it was a great day. The
knifing cold wind notwithstanding, the voyage on the boat was nice. Although it
was grey day in winter, it was sufficiently clear to see the green waters. On a
clear summer day, the water would have really been a magnificent shade of green.
Islands in Ha Long Bay
Typically, a day cruise covers Ti Top Island, Tunnel cave and Sung Sot (Surprise) Cave, before heading back to Tuan Chau marina, from where all cruises start.
There’s lunch on the boat, which we found quite good in its quality
and variety, especially the vegetarian dishes (rice, noodles, dimsum).
The famous "kissing Rocks"
Ti Top Island
Ti Top Island is a sort of staging point on the
cruise. It was so named because of a visit by a USSR cosmonaut Gherman Titov back in
1962, but otherwise earlier it was named after sailors who had perished in a
shipwreck in the Ha Long Bay in 1905. The statue on the island is of Gherman Titov. 
Ti Top Island
The island is steep wooded on one side and a slope going down to a beach on the other side. This seems to be man-made beach (quite neat and clean) nice enough for a swim if you planned for it; else you could climb the many steps to the top of the island and have a look around the bay. We climbed halfway to a stage, and got a view, but most people take a quick walk up. Takes about 20 minutes, but we weren’t the heavy outdoorsy type.
People were also kayaking, and we understand you could also do some paragliding- check with your cruise operator, or the people on the island.
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| Luon Cave entrance |
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| Beach on Ti Top Island |
Luon Cave
Leaving Ti Top, the next stop is an island
formation with a secluded cove called Luon Cave, reachable thru a tunnel that’s
got carved in the side of the island. You get transferred to a smaller boat
which takes you into the tunnel and into the cove inside the island.
A short
scenic ride in a small boat with travelers wearing life vests. You could kayak
thru the cave as well. This cave entrance must have been carved by years of
erosion from the sea (see the photos).All in all, quite a neat nice excursion.
Sung Sot Island - Surprise Cave
This was the really surprising part of the
trip. From outside, its just one of the many islands in Ha Long bay, but climb
up on the steps and enter the cave, and its gigantic within. Its apparently
called Surprise cave because the French who discovered it were surprised by the
sheer size and scale of it. In the local language, its called Sung Sot Cave. 
The soaring ceiling of "Surprise Cave"
The
steps are many, and go thru the grotto and up and down thru the mountain,
finally descending to sea level after about a half hour walk. Its not very easy,
but there are more steps than slopes, so those with knee or heart issues may well
be advised to skip this part.
But important notice! The boat that brings
you to the Sung Sot cave does not wait there- it leaves after dropping off the
passengers and goes to the other side of the island where the exit of the cave
is. So if you don’t want to visit the cave, do NOT leave the boat! The cruise
operator does tell you this, but many people miss it. Be careful!
It’s a very huge place with water streams, green-
and brown-coloured stones and pathways and a lot of Stalactites (caused by
water dripping from the roof of the grotto). Theres also many stalagmites there,
as the water keeps dripping onto a place and the minerals harden over time.
Makes for dramatic landscapes and arches all over, highlighted by strategically
placed lights.
Stalactites in "Surprise Cave"
Its worth a quick walk thru, if your health
permits. Do note: you must be aware that this part of the trip can be difficult
if have ailments.
There are other tours also- some with overnight stay on the cruise ships; some on hotels on the mainland, and some with more activities. But the one we took was just right without getting tiresome or boring. 
View from the exit of "Surprise Cave"
Of course, the weather was great, and that helped. The tour organization was perfectly fine as well, with good buses, ships and food.
From the outside, the hotel and its sister hotel
(Rex) are cheek and jowl with other buildings and a host of cars and retailers
all around. Looks very much like Mumbai or Delhi, especially Delhi with its
buildings with common walls everywhere between residences. But that’s the charm
of many of these cities in Asia- so alive and vibrant, so tightly integrated
and inter dependent. Very familiar to most Asians (especially Indians) and very
exotic for the western world.
The Tirant was well done up inside. Quick check-in
and well-appointed room ( though it was a bit tight for three beds), but that wasn’t
a major issue. The bathroom was quite large after the one in Siem Reap, and
overall, it was a slick, modern hotel -quite surprising to many if they form an
opinion of the surroundings of the hotel. 
The lobby
Breakfast was, as we had come to expect in Indochina,
not very hep- but much better in its mix ( noodles / eggs/ breads etc). Its too much to expect completely standardized food but a
judicious mix of International and local would be expected and welcome. As good, seasoned travelers, we did carry our
own food when the local cuisines got a tad too much, but that’s a personal preference.
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| Double room with extra bed |
Clearly, this area -the old quarter has started getting“touristified” but
its up to the visitor to be curious and absorb the culture and sensations. 
The Hanoi skyline
If you stay there, don’t forget to visit the rooftop
restaurant. Beautiful airy place, with great views of Hanoi all around (see
pictures). Unfortunately, it was simply too cold and windy in December to enjoy
the outdoors, but it was nice nevertheless.
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| View from Tirant roof top of lake |
All said and done, The Tirant was a good choice, great location and for the brief 2 days we were in Hanoi, very enjoyable.
The bridges into Hanoi
We flew from Siem Reap (at the at time, the old
airport , nice, small and neat, and close by from the city) to Hanoi in the
evening flight of Vietnam Airlines ( 1950 hours) It was on time, and we landed Hanoi about 2
hours later in a coldish evening ( 2145 hours).
The aircraft was clean and neat, with the airline coloured seats. Good enough flight. And the timing is such that you get almost the whole day in Siem Reap for sightseeing before you need to head to the airport around 430pm. While this particular flight was fine, later on in Vietnam, we did have some delays, but nothing that disrupted the plans too much.
The hotel itself is quite large, which isn’t immediately visible when seen from the road. Spacious ground floor and a simple enough lift. We had a triple room, which was quite roomy, though the bathroom was a little on the cramped side, but quite ok. The single room we saw was neat but small. You may be hard pressed to put too many bags.
The one thing I always dislike in hotels is that one needs to climb into and out of bathtubs for bath. That’s not a good idea for older people, or for that matter, any people in wet areas. Fundamentally, I don’t even know how many people really use bathtubs in hotels! But presumably, a lot do, as I have seen bathtubs in hotel bathrooms across the world. Would this be considered a water wastage?
The restaurant was simple and roomy, but the breakfast quality left much to be desired. It simply wasn’t good enough quality, and variety. It gave the impression that a majority of the guests were usually SE Asian or locals- and even the few locals we saw didn’t look very pleased either. This is one area this otherwise nice hotel needs to drastically improve. The quality of breakfast we had in Helsinki, for example, was top notch- prices were more or less the same ( Cambodia is not a cheap destination contrary to beliefs that Asia is cheap).
Water dispensers are on the ground floor, and you need to go fill bottles yourself. Nothing unusual in this. The rear area that backs onto the Wat Bo road has the swimming pool, quite nice and well frequented.
The best part was Daniel, the manager of this
hotel. Quick, efficient and polite, he arranged all the taxis and tuk tuk that
we hired during the stay. His replies on email before we arrived were also comprehensive
enough ( he in fact told us in detail of the small circle and grand circle
tours, and arranged the taxi and guide as well). Eased any concerns we had
quite bit and other wise made the trip far more enjoyable. On the last day in
fact, we had to check out by 11am but our flight to Hanoi was around 7pm-
Daniel was kind enough to arrange a single room for us to rest in.
All in all, a good stay- recommended as on
December 2022. Readers need to go thru the latest reviews and take their own
decision.
India's second largest Online Travel Agent (OTA), EaseMytrip ( www.easemytrip.com) put out some interesting data points in its investor presentation May 24 2024.
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| Source : Easemytrip investor ppt, slide 21, May 24 2025 |
Briefly, it shows how India , and Indian travelers are set to be key drivers of domestic and international tourism.
The INR values themselves for the overall travel market are growing well : from INR 27,700crore in 2023Estimated to INR 40,400 crore Estimated in 2027. Within that number, air travel is estimated at 15% growth, on the back of new airports, planes, and generally better affordability.
The key is the online market, whose spread, availability and convenience has impacts on many industries, not least travel itself which it will facilitate growing. Its expected to go from INR 18500 crore to INR 29800 crore from 2023 to 2027 E. That's massive growth, underlined by hotels, transport, F&B. It also suggests a strategy marketing - almost every travel player has migrated big time from print ( at one time the primary medium for advertising) to digital, since the chain from idea to execution is seamless and information for the same is easily available real time.
There were 22.6 million Indian Nationals Departures (IND) as per the ministry of tourism, and 98% went by air. These are good numbers for a tourism destination, and the growth of internet, affordability, smart phones and easier visa regimes can only drive more growth.
Interestingly, Easemytrip said in their analyst call on May 24 2024 that they have adopted 4 heritage landmarks for maintenance under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Adopt a Heritage 2.0 program: The Qutub Minar, Delhi; The Konark Sun temple, Agra Fort, and Western group of temples in Khajuraho. Totally, these get over 6 mn visitors annually, not a bad OTS ( Opportunity to see), and may be even get business!
The other aspect they seem to be doing is to train over 1.8 cr didis (women) in rural areas to use the app and book tickets. Even if 10% of these start using it regularly, it will open up a flood of travel bookings.
Hopefully, the company will follow thru on these, and not just see it as PR; should be interesting to see if they declare progress on these in future investor calls.
Ignore India at your own peril!
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| The Bayon temple , Angkor |
This Bayon temple is famous for many reasons. Firstly, there is no clear knowledge as to why it’s called “Bayon”. The French explorers apparently heard this name from the locals in the early 20th century when the discovery of Angkor was underway. Literature suggests it could mean “pedestal for sacred statues” ( https://smarthistory.org/bayon-temple-angkor-thom/).
Its walls depict many of the daily lives of
Cambodia/ Khmer in the 12th and 13th centuries as well as
depictions of the Angkor wars with the Chams.
Overall, this site inspires awe and reverence
for the scale, and skill of the builders. A glimpse into the distant past. This
temple is over 1000 years old. We must appreciate the time frame. Much of what
we see, experience and use today did not exist when this monumental temple was
already at its peak!
ASCI Academy (Advertising and Standards Council of India) and Parallel (a product design studio in Bengaluru) came up with some very interesting research on apps and their trade practices in August 2024.
They studied 9 industries, 12000 screens and 53 apps. One of the industries, of our interest here, is also travel. They defined and studied 12 “deceptive patterns” – practices designed to get users to undertake actions or data processing that they did not intend.
Travel apps used 9 out of 12 "deceptive patterns" . This is important to understand , because these apps are actually very useful and have become defacto go-to gateways for travel, tourism, holidays and transport.
Even more crucial to note as ASCI -Parallel do in their research paper - over 751 million
users are online in India, and quite unknowingly, share massive data with
anyone who asks!
What are
these Deceptive Patterns? Very interesting definitions, and in many cases, are
very intuitive too. We have all experienced these at one time or another, on
apps and websites.
Deceptive
patterns defined:
They
surveyed 53 apps. This is the summary:
Travel
apps use many deceptive patterns
One of the
many industries they surveyed was travel and tourism. In this, they checked the
apps of the leading players – EasemyTrip, Agoda, goibibo, yatra, makemytrip,
cleartrip, redbus, and booking.com.
The list of
DP that the travel trade uses, is not surprising, when you sit back and think-
almost every DP is used in some manner or intensity. Eg- just a few that we all
can relate to:
1. Drip pricing (33% of all apps studied)
– add on costs till final cost is something else !
2. Confirm sharing – pressurize to get
advantage of some deal at a point in the booking.
3. Nagging – pop ups keep pressurizing you
to take an action .
Read the
research on : https://www.consciouspatterns.in/research-findings
Overtourism is the current rage in the travel, tourism, government and social circles. There are cities being overwhelmed by visitors in particular months and empty in others; there are protests and water being squirted over tourists ( which is sad because tourists cant be blamed for local policies that enable them to arrive!).
That said , I thought it would be interesting to gauge from numbers exactly how bad is the problem of over tourism. I compiled a few numbers (see table) from various sources - the Ministry of Tourism India (2022 data) , UN tourism site, Euromonitor, Statista, ET, TOI, The Guardian, CNN and a few others).
The "T/P ratio" is essentially simply Tourist- to- Population ratio. Just my way to grasp the scale of the issue.
Not surprisingly, western Europe has some T/P ratios that could be called alarming. The point here is that not all these millions are leisure travelers. Quite a large component will be business arrivals too. Still, the numbers are huge in already huge cities. Istanbul, for example, gets 25% more visitors thru its gates in a year than its resident population. London, nearly 2x, and Barcelona, the current hot topic, 37 % more than its population. These are serious enough "overruns" to stress out people, resources like water and sanitation, as well as transport. ( populations are measured differently in different cities - some take in only metro city areas; some the wider metro area including suburbs, but the core purpose of the analysis remains good).
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| numbers in millions. Sources: Euromonitor, Statista, WTTO, UN Tourism Dashboard, media reports, TOI, ET, Guardian, CNN |
India : big on population, low on tourism
Ironically, in the second half of the table, you can see how under-developed India is on the tourism scale. India gets less than 1.7% of global tourism, and its FTA (Foreign Tourist Arrivals) are about 9 mn. Basically, the whole, huge subcontinent of India , one of the oldest and most diverse cultures on Earth, gets less tourist arrivals than any one of the cities in the table!
India has tremendous potential for tourism - both domestic and international. There are some clear concerns, but they pertain to infrastructure, costs, general perception of safety, and that India is destination by itself requiring much time and planning).
There's essentially no concern on overtourism for India! As it is, Indian cities are densely populated. A few million more may not even be noticed!
Further to the discussion on if entry fees are an effective barrier to slow or stop tourism, take a look at the numbers from India to Europe, the most preferred destination for Indians.
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| Source: schnegenvisainfo.com / TOI/ HT/ https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/ |
There are three interesting data points here.
First, there was a smart recovery from the low of the pandemic years (2020-2022) and it really shot up post 2022.
Second, in the same duration. the Schengen visa fee rose from Euro 60 to 80 per head and is today, in 2024, euro 90. Every three years or so, the EU revises this fee. The latest revision was effective June 2024.
Third, check out the rejections. There was a smart spike in the rejection % as well. India now is the third most rejected country from European visas. There is no refund for rejections (I think that's unform for all countries, even India). The key data point is- how much Indians lost to rejections. In 2023, it was about Euro 12 mn against about Euro 10mn in 2022.
So, what does it look like, in money terms? See table 2 below.
Table 2:
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| Source: schnegenvisainfo.com / TOI/ HT/ https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/ |
So how do you slow down over tourism? I believe more long-term damage to image and attractiveness of a destination will be done by singling out genuine tourists with embarrassment, financial losses, or violence (actual or threatened), like we saw in Barcelona. The latent hostility is even more concerning. Many people will pause a bit, and wonder. Should I spend my money in a place that's clearly hostile? Or at the very least, disdainfully tolerates me for my money?
Tricky, knotty issue, it sure is!
Over tourism remains a topic of great debate. in an earlier post, I tried to understand what could be done about it (taxes, phase out, new destinations and so on) . Here, I wanted to explore another closely related issue : permissions and approvals.
Its easy and convenient to say tourists mess up , clog up and in general ruin the place. That in itself is a broad generalization and not always true.
But how and what enabled so many to visit so many areas for so many days?
Some key factors: local authorities, logistics and prosperity.
To start with, isn't it local authorities ( municipalities, state governments and national ministries) who allow the proliferation of short stay apartments?
How does a tourist enable / force / cause flats or apartments to be converted into short stay tourism accommodation without active support, frame work and planning by landlords and city authorities?
Does a tourist have any say in housing or zoning or public transport policies of the destination? Clearly, no.
In all the arguments raging across media, I don't find much debate on the role of authorities in allowing the shift of housing for locals into short stay for tourists (Barcelona did say they would ban all short stays, but after 4 years). They welcomed the money that came in ( both local landlords who rented out and governments who got taxes and income).
But perhaps it went overboard?
No one fault can be pinpointed here - it is the responsibility of authorities to grow their economies, and they simply used one economic lever. But then to turn around and blame transient visitors almost entirely for this problem is a bit rich. Local protestors would be aware of this. Surely they would be asking hard questions of their administrators.
The other enabler is of course, logistics or access. The expansion of low cost airlines suddenly opened up new destinations otherwise out of budget. Here again, landing / docking rights are the economic assets of the destination-its entirely there prerogative to control them. The tricky balance is to get more money in, without messing up the works- economic, cultural, business.
The third enabler is the growing prosperity of the middle classes elsewhere in the world that puts more money and enables them to travel, supported by vastly expanded air, sea and road links. In India, at least, foreign travel is no longer a luxury, The moment the young people have excess funds and/ time, they will travel. Its just part of being the new Global Indian culture and imagery that has crystalized over the past decade. And India isnt even the largest source markets for many tourism-troubled destinations- not yet.
Just look at India only (not even that other big source market - China) . 1400 mn people- of which the middle class would be 500mn. To put that into perspective- that would be more than the population of Scandinavia and most European countries, and quite big chunks of S/ S E Asia as well! Even if 10% of these 500mn are able to travel, that's 50mn. Europe holds the pride of place for every Indian- and even within Europe, certain destinations are always top of the list- Switzerland, UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy for sure, Next layer for the more discerning would be eastern and central Europe, and for the jaded Indian, Scandinavia/ Iceland.
Another interesting aspect is FOMO - the fear of missing out in travel and tourism. Just consider India again. With 65% of its population below 30 years and infrastructure still shoddy for tourism, the longing for the "first world lifestyle" means that a whole mass of people are traveling- and putting on social media that " they made it" . That perfect insta photo/ that perfect facebook post. It all adds to the allure of travel. Its a good thing in many ways for Indians - exposure, style, perspective, confidence. But only if done correctly.
The fourth enabler I would say are the investments into the tourism infrastructure by a lot of players, from hotels, to transport, to F&B and governments. The rapid expansion of chain hotels and Air B&B stays opened up vast accommodation options and allowed more stays for longer. Its a matter of another debate if hotels are better for a city or short stay rentals. Hotels are usually more expensive but offer a control point for the destination.
In sum, it was a perfect conjunction of circumstances and enablers that drove excessive tourism numbers. There are hard solutions in hand, and some soft, long term. But perhaps the travel industry will find its right, if an uneasy and flexible, balance sooner than later!