Vietnamese people were called to improve their image when travelling abroad, at a forum held by the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) on March 31.

Vietnamese tourists on Sam Son beach

At the event, VITA Vice President Vu The Binh highlighted that the forum was a turning point in VITA’s efforts to better Vietnamese travellers’ reputation in foreign countries, while eliminating their “uncivilised” behaviour when travelling.

Statistics revealed that more than 6 million Vietnamese went on holiday abroad in 2015. A lack of consultation and guidance allowed the tourists bring uncouth habits overseas. Those bad habits comprised of public nuisance, littering, food waste, inappropriate clothing, shoplifting, queue-jumping, and using the guise of tourism to work illegally in the host country, among others.

According to Deputy Director of TransViet Nguyen Tien Dat, Vietnamese people who travel abroad for illegal labour have left a negative impact on real tourists –

for example, Singapore recently denied entry to many Vietnamese female nationals to prevent prostitution in the country.

He added that the rate of Vietnamese vacationers travelling to the Republic of Korea to seek illegal employment rose to 32 percent.

Vulgar and impetuous tourists will harm Vietnam’s image in the eyes of international friends, especially when the country is involved in the global economic integration process, Dat highlighted.

Participants at the forum agreed that a lot of attention should be paid to fine-tuning the civilised quality of citizens and building a good image of Vietnamese tourists.

The tourism sector needs to issue a set of rules for civilised tourism while VITA should coordinate with relevant agencies to popularise programmes improving Vietnamese tourists’ image.

VNA