Keeping a healthy business environment Overcharging and cheating are still rampant in the national tourism. Such is the fact admitted by officials in the sector.
Foreigners operating behind a Vietnamese legal person, selling goods in foreign exchange, selling without price listing… those activities are incurring tax losses to the state revenue. These irregularities coupled with unfair competition among travel agents is making Vietnamese tourism ugly in the eyes of visitors.
Tourists at Temple of Literature - Hanoi
To put the situation in order, the VNAT has initiated a campaign to improve travel services and ensure professional, quality and prestigious tourism. It is also aimed at creating a contingent of tour guides “professional, friendly and devoting”. “The campaign is aimed at improving the understanding of governmental agencies at all levels about tourism, as well as involving the business community, the craft associations and local people in the management and exploitation of the tourism attractions” said the Deputy General Director of VNAT Ngo Hoai Chung who added that “it is important to foster professionalism and service quality as well as the law obedience mentality of travel agents and tour guides.”
Hanoi’s tough in handling violations
In order to ensure the healthy tourism environment, the Hanoi’s Department of Tourism has asked the VNAT to take measures to control fake tour guide license. At the same time, it’s imperative to increase the number of tour guides by allowing teachers of tourism schools to provide guiding services. The Hanoi Department of Tourism also proposed the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to devise appropriate tour guide training criteria and in exceptional case, to issue licenses to tour guide with skills in rare languages.
In the first inspection of travel agents and tour guide license issuance in Hanoi recently, of the ten inspected travel agents, one saw its business license invalidated. “The Hanoi tourism authority always enforces tourism regulations and guides businesses in the sectors to abide by the law. First time infractors will be given the chance to fix the damages. But their business licenses will be removed if they repeat the violations”, said the former director of Hanoi Department of Tourism.
The Hanoi Department of Tourism said it will tighten control of small and micro-enterprises, especially those businesses in Hanoi Old Quarter so as for the tourism business environment not to be affected by minor infraction. The Department will also enhance the control and inspection of travel agents and tour guides.
Thanks to the efforts, the number of visitors to Hanoi is on the rise. In particular, in May 2017, tourists coming to Hanoi amounted up to approximately 1.6 million, which is 7.6% more than the rate of the same period from last year. Among them, international tourists coming to Hanoi were around 294 thousand, 10% increase compared to that of the same period last year (international tourists who took accommodations in Hanoi are roughly 210 thousand, also 10% year on year increase). In addition, since 2016, the number of Chinese tourists to Hanoi has soared up. The amount of Chinese tourists taking accommodation in Hanoi increased more than 60% compared to that of 2015. The rising amount of Chinese tourists has not arisen any public order issue thanks to the the Hanoi Tourism Department plan to take care of them from their arrival till departure
Successful models should be multiplied
Sharing his view with reporter of the Economic & Urban Newspaper, the Director of the Travel Department under VNAT, Nguyen Quy Phuong states that the supervision of tour operators are carried out frequently. However, this is the first time such a large scale campaign is launched across the country. Priliminary result shows that the tourism management model in Hanoi needs to be replicated across the country.
What can we expect from the campaign to put in order and upgrade the qualities of Travel agents?
There will be no prohibited zone, no exception and tolerance. Any law violation in tourism operation will be strictly punished. Once the campaign concludes, there must be a fundamental improvement of service quality and professionalism. On the other hand, it is expected to raise awareness on law abiding mentality of tour operators and travel guideso as to build a healthy business environment.
After the first round of inspection in Hanoi, what is your assessment of the law compliance of tour operators?
All 10 travel agents operating outbound tours under inspection are law abiding businesses. However, there are still shortcomings which need to be dealt with. With this being said, we have issued warnings to tour operators to fix them. One exception is Ha Do Tourism Company (address 244 Minh Khai street, Hai Ba Trung district). We proposed the Director General of the VNAT to withdraw its license due to ineligibility.
Despite a great number of 800 tour operators and a recently upsurge in the amount of foreign tourist coming to Hanoi, there are no significant incidents, why?
After having reviewed tour operators in Hanoi, we see no sign of concern up until now. Since the establishment of the Hanoi Department of Tourism, there are significant improvements with regard to tourism promotion, advertisement, safety and tourism operation management. A close cooperation between the Department and related agencies with clear agenda and action plan is the most crucial and decisive factor to ensure a healthy tourism environment. In particular, I highly appreciate the fact that the Department has assigned staff to be present in each area to work with local authority in case an incident occurs. This is a good model and should be replicated across the country.
With a total of 800 tours operators in Hanoi, VNAT will cooperate closely with the Hanoi Department of Tourism in this campaign. However, due to limited human resources, it is very important to have a smooth working relationship between agencies and tours operators.
In order to take actions against unlicensed tour operators and to ensure a healthy tourism business environment, what are your thoughts on this matters?
To the Resolution no 92/NQ-CP issued September 8, 2014 by the Government read that “it’s necessary to improve the efficiency of the governmental management on tourism from national to local level.” As the number of tourists increases, related agencies need to cooperate closely with each other to fulfill their missions. For example, Sam Son beach (Thanh Hoa) used to have bad fame for overcharging tourists. However, as the VNAT officials and the local government resolved to impose heavy penalties on behaviors such as overcharging and clinging to tourists, the ill reputation of the tourist industry in Sam Son beach faded away. Therefore, only when officials and the local government take action can the whole issue be solved, regardless of the presence of supervisors from the VNAT or Department of Tourism. The local government has to be the first agency in managing and holding responsibility for all issues and possible accidents, then come the districts, precincts and cities administrations. The national department will only solve issues at macro level. Only with a clear distinction of roles and responsibilities and strict regulations and laws compliance can the business environment and tourism activities be healthy.
Thank you!
