The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has proposed the Ministry of Public Security to launch an investigation into fake tour guide cards in the central province of Khanh Hoa.

Tourists in Khanh Hoa Province

The information was given by Tran Viet Trung, director of Khanh Hoa Province’s Department of Tourism.   

According to Trung, the VNAT has received an email mentioning that many tour guide cards have been forged in Khanh Hoa.

According to the denouncement, Nha Trang City has welcomed a large number of Chinese tourists, leading to a high demand in tour guides. However, many people have tried to find ways to have fake tour guide cards.

The email specified that the counterfeit cards have different prices. The VND15-20 million (USD681.81-909) type looks real, but the private information of the cardholders cannot be found on the VNAT website huongdanvien.vn. Meanwhile, for the more expensive cards costing VND50-60 million (USD2,272-2,727) each, the user information can be found on the system.

The denouncer claimed that the VND50-60 million cards were made with the co-operation of staff from the provincial Department of Tourism. They noted that 2-3 cards of this type have been mingled into some 20 real sets of dossiers for being licensed from November 10 to November 20.

A tour guide for Chinese visitors in Nha Trang City said that to date, the licensed tour guides are not enough to meet the sharply increasing number of Chinese travellers. So many people buy fake cards to act as tour guides, but when being checked by authorities, they often do not show their card and travel among the visiting group.

Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, deputy director of Khanh Hoa Province’s Department of Tourism, said that she herself was quite shocked at the information; ensuring licensing the tour guide cards in the province always followed the VNAT’s regulations.

She however emphasised that authorities needed to investigate the issue.

Meanwhile, Tran Viet Trung, Director of the provincial Department of Tourism said that to date, the department has not yet detected any counterfeit tour guide cards.

So far this year, Khanh Hoa Department of Tourism has licensed 1,174 tour guide cards, including 782 international cards with 447 for those who serve Chinese travellers.

Phap Luat/Dtinews