Photo by HNH Images
From WIRE REPORTS
Tourism authorities in Ha Noi have asked district police and governments to punish street vendors more strictly for what they call an increasing harassment and cheating of tourists.
In his proposal to authorities in Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh and Dong Da districts, Mai Tien Dung, vice director of the Ha Noi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the district governments need to tighten controls to detect wrongdoings among vendors at famous sites like the Sword Lake and Literature Temple, a newspaper reported.
Fines for violators also need to be increased to deter others, he said, adding that their misconduct has worsened the reputation of Hanoians, as well as the capital’s tourism environment among foreigners.
According to the news website, the department made the move following recent media reports of an increase in the number of cases of foreign tourists being harassed and ripped off in Ha Noi, where local authorities have banned street vendors on 62 streets since 2008.
For instance, a local who lives near the Sword Lake in Hoan Kiem District last week wrote a letter to the newspaper about many foreign tourists being ripped off, if not cheated, by vendors of pineapples and bananas there.
He said vendors who usually carry a pole with two baskets at the pole’s ends often put the pole on tourists’ shoulders and a hat on their head without asking, and invite them to pose for photographs.
After the tourists take the photos, usually thinking that the Vietnamese people are just acting friendly, the vendors take the props back, give the tourists a couple of pineapple pieces, and ask them to pay some $9.60.
The local letter writer wrote that he also saw vendors taking bills worth about $24 from foreign tourists, who thought they were lower denominations.
