Billions of dollars in tourism gone because of a few... punches

According to statistics from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, investment in tourism promotion in Vietnam costs about 2 million USD/year.

Although this figure is nothing compared to tourism in countries like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, it is still quite significant in promoting this industry to continuously grow by an average of about 6.5% in the past 5 years. However, those efforts may become meaningless if the Vietnamese themselves do not know how to protect the image of Vietnamese tourism.

There are still cases of tourists coming to Vietnam being robbed or even assaulted. The latest case is the director of the movie “Kong” being beaten and hospitalized in Ho Chi Minh City.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts - Vietnam tourism ambassador.

Tourism ambassadors are not spared either.

On September 9, images of “Kong: Skull Island” director Jordan Vogt-Roberts being beaten to the point of hospitalization while at a bar in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City were circulating online. Immediately after, District 1 police intervened. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts did not report to the police but instead sent a letter to the US Embassy in Vietnam, informing them that he had been beaten.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism then sent leaders to visit the American director and sent a dispatch requesting the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to investigate the incident.

After the success of “Kong: Skull Island”, Jordan expressed his desire to live and work long-term in Ho Chi Minh City. In March, he was appointed as Vietnam Tourism Ambassador for the 2017-2020 term. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also emphasized that in the past time, as a Tourism Ambassador, director Jordan has actively participated in many activities to promote national tourism. A few days ago, the director of “Kong: Skull Island” also paid his own expenses to go to Vietnam to participate in the Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair - ITE HCM.

Why was director Jordan Vogt-Roberts assaulted? This remains to be investigated. In any case, this incident raises the alarm about the rather common practice of “using fists” instead of apologies in Vietnam.

Mr. Nguyen Van My - Chairman of Lua Viet Tours - said: "For other countries, that is an important matter, but in Vietnam, it seems to happen often. This is a lesson for the director of the movie Kong, to choose a bar, because many places are gathering places for gangsters and drug addicts.

Maybe just because they don’t like beards, or don’t answer questions…, the aggressors can start to hit tourists. Through this, I hope Mr. Jordan learns more about Vietnamese “culture”. When going out, you have to be patient, if you do something wrong, you have to… apologize and leave immediately, otherwise you will easily get hit.

Just a glance or a glare can cause a fight and bloodshed. I have been to bars, some are quite polite, but there are also many bars where people use ecstasy, then get drunk... very easy to act rashly".

In fact, many foreigners have been beaten until bleeding during fights and arguments. In Hanoi, a foreign tourist once reacted because his foot was accidentally stepped on, but the driver then ran over his foot and he couldn’t take off his sandal, and immediately a fight broke out between the two sides.

Previously, famous player Puyol was also beaten on the night of welcoming the Champions League Cup in Ho Chi Minh City. Puyol was hit on the back by a stranger for no reason, which made him panic and angrily leave, forgetting to sign autographs for fans.

In addition to being beaten until bleeding, many tourists have lost their passports and wallets. American movie star Gerard Butler once revealed that he lost his wallet when he first arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport. Hong Kong star Chung Hân Đồng also had her phone snatched in the middle of Saigon a few years ago.

How to get the image back?

Ms. Alaa Mohammad Abdu Ali Aldoh - Egyptian tourist cried when her property was robbed.

Previously, to resolve the case of an Egyptian tourist whose bag was snatched and all his personal documents and money were lost, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and the City Department of Tourism apologized to the tourist and compensated him with 1,000 USD. However, at that time, many people thought that an apology was not enough, the important thing was to create a safe environment for tourists.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, investment in tourism promotion in Vietnam costs about 2 million USD/year. Although this figure is not much compared to other countries in the region such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia..., it is still quite significant in promoting this industry to continuously grow by an average of 6.5% over the past 5 years.

However, this billion-dollar investment and many efforts of the tourism industry will likely go down the drain and become meaningless if violent acts and fist fights continue to exist, affecting the image of Vietnamese tourism.

According to Mr. Lai Van Quan - Head of Tourism Department of Tricolor Travel Company: "Everything has its reasons, we should choose the information we receive carefully. Personally, images of beating foreigners will more or less have a negative impact on foreign tourists, especially with the current speed of social networks spreading, it will have a very serious and direct impact on the Vietnamese tourism industry, especially for people with great influence, with the ability to guide public opinion, such as famous people, top stars.

Foreign tourists will know that Vietnam is an unsafe tourism environment, so the number of visitors to Vietnam will decrease. I do not expect much, but I still hope, albeit faintly, that, besides the management agency should strengthen strict control, people's awareness, friendliness and civility in daily behavior are still the leading factors to help bring a better image of Vietnam in the eyes of international friends."

According to LDO