On December 23, on the online newspaper VnExpress, there was an article titled “I want to leave as soon as I come to Vietnam as a visitor” by Crisensean.
The article describes the author’s discomfort during a trip to Vietnam with his family. According to the author, there are 2 factors to evaluate the quality of a tourist destination, namely safety and hygiene. But both of these factors, Vietnam is very poor.
Regarding security, the author’s family was robbed of their phones and wallet, and forced to pay high prices of services and food during their trip to Vietnam. These things make tourists unhappy, uncomfortable, unable to spontaneously use their phones to take pictures and record their favorite moments, and even dare not call or text people. body while on the street. While the phone is not only a means of communication, it also stores personal information, bank accounts and a road map.
In terms of hygiene, the environment in Vietnam is not clean, garbage is everywhere and stinks. Roads and beaches are flooded with garbage, and sidewalks are black because they are not cleaned. Everything was so dirty that the author’s family did not dare to touch or eat anything. The author has traveled in many European and Asian countries, so he has enough experience to compare with Vietnam.
Similar to author Crisensean, many tourists, after coming to Vietnam once, expressed negative emotions and have no plan to come back. This emotion does not appear only in a few cases, but it is very common, even there have been many disparaging words and complaints about Vietnam tourism on international travel websites.
It has been more than 30 years since opening and developing tourism, but Vietnam’s tourism industry still revolves around monuments, resorts, sightseeing and dining. However, these services are also very bad, also bring negative feelings to visitors.
The relic is old, degraded, the speed of restoration is very slow. A few places that have been restored are of poor quality and rough, not achieving the same sophistication as the original. For example, in the Citadel and some mausoleums in Hue, the works are restored of very poor quality, the uninformed people can immediately recognize the rough and scratched carvings, not the sharp and elegant like original places left from the past. Resorts do not have any attractive services, just eating, sleeping, swimming, swimming pool, all. There is a risk of food poisoning.
While in countries, such as Hawaii or Thailand, there are many variety shows, music, circus shows, magic shows in tourist areas, etc., there are luxurious and polite shopping areas, museums, zoos, etc. In Vietnam, visitors who are led to shopping spots like Ben Thanh market or Dong Ba market are scared out of their mind, because it’s crowded, noisy and chaotic, prices are high, there are even beggars. stalking and theft, pickpocketing.
One of Vietnam’s strong points is its many hills, rivers, and beaches. These locations can build adventure games such as skydiving, surfing, waterfall… But 30 years have passed, Vietnam’s tourism industry still has not seen investment in this direction.
In addition, visitors to Vietnam also encounter troubles when entering. The chaos at the airport leads to lost luggage or the luggage is slashed or stolen… If you don’t lose your things, you have to wait a long time to get your luggage, then customs make it difficult, then taxis compete each other and get high fees.
Tourists come to Vietnam just out of curiosity and never come back again. Vietnam’s tourism market has grown unsustainably and is showing signs of recession.
According to statistics, after the first 11 months of 2022, Vietnam only welcomed 2.7 million visitors, just over half of the 5 million target set by the tourism industry. Meanwhile, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore all reached more than 6 million visitors, and Thailand alone reached more than 10 million. According to the World Tourism Organization, even in 2019 – the golden year of Vietnam’s tourism, the rate of foreign visitors returning to Vietnam is only 10%, while that of Thailand is 82%, and Singapore is 89%.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
