VietNamNet Bridge – On July 6 the Chairman of Da Nang City signed a decision to fine six Chinese for violating Vietnam’s immigration regulations or working without permission from the Vietnam authorities.

One of these Chinese tourists burned Vietnamese money at a bar in Da Nang.

The six people were Huang Wei, Song Ying, Xu Zenghua, Mengxing Wu, Yang Chuan, Li Guangping who temporarily reside at the same address in My An ward, Ngu Hanh Son district, Da Nang.

The fine ranged from VND20 million to VND21.25 million ($900-$1,000)/person.

In recent times, the sudden growth of Chinese visitors to Da Nang has led to a number of complex issues in the city. The municipal People's Committee has directed the related departments to regulate tourism activities in the city.

The Da Nang Department of Tourism has enforced strict penalties on foreign travel agencies and tour guides operating illegally after local media reported illegal operations of Chinese in the city.

Repeated violators will be deported or even banned from re-entering Vietnam by the Immigration Department, said the department’s director Tran Chi Cuong.

The Department will work closely with communal and district authorities to tighten checks on local hotels, tour guides and tour operators so as to prevent them from helping foreigners conduct illegal travel business in the city.

Da Nang has so far imposed a total VND215 million in fines on 12 illegal foreign tour guides and one travel agency for breach of tourism regulations, Cuong said.

The city has seen a significant increase in Chinese tourist arrivals over the last few years. It welcomed an estimated 211,000 Chinese visitors in the first half of 2016, up 83 percent against the same period last year.

Chinese tour guides and tour operators have made use of such upward trends to offer unauthorized services to Chinese holidaymakers to the city.

According to the country’s tourism regulations, foreign travel firms must work with Vietnamese agencies and use local tour guides if they want to bring tourists into the country.

Many Chinese nationals have been illegally working as tour guides for groups of Chinese visitors, even though the city has 19 international tour operators organizing tours for Chinese vacationers and nearly 2,240 licensed Chinese-speaking tour guides.

To tighten control of the problem, the city’s Department of Tourism held a meeting on June 30 with a number of local relevant government bodies, including the police, departments for immigration, taxation, labor, and industry and trade, and district people’s committees.

It also hosted a meeting with local Chinese-speaking tour guides on July 1 to identify ways to improve their professional operation.

Vietnam asks China to handle disorderly Chinese tourists

On July 6, General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Van Tuan signed a written request to his Chinese counterpart asking for strict management and punishment of Chinese tourists who behave badly in Da Nang.

Tuan saidthe relationships of Vietnam-China tourism industries has been developing well in recent years. Chinese tourists to Vietnam increased by 5.9% annually. Last year the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Vietnam reached 1.78 million. The figure for the first half of this year was 1.2 million.

However, local media recently reported bad behavior of some Chinese tourists in Vietnam. For example, a group of Chinese visitors went to a bar in Da Nang to drink and disturbed others. One of them burned a VND200,000 banknote. This man was expelled.

Tuan asked the Chinese tourism authorities to cooperate with related agencies to punish the tourist.

The same day, the VNAT asked the Da Nang Department of Tourism to inspect the operation of illegal Chinese tour guides in the city.

Linh Nhat