Vietnam must have a tourism police force in order to better protect its international and domestic tourists, a chief official from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism urged at an online conference on Thursday.
The country’s tourism image has been marred by street vendors and beggars, crimes, and rip-offs at hotels and restaurants.
These issues prove an urgent need for a strengthened police force, La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the department, told the conference on improving the tourism environment, held by the Government’s Steering Board for Tourism.
HCMC has set up a unit to protect tourists in the city, but this force needs strengthening as the number of international arrivals is on the rise, while more and more cases in which tourists have been robbed or ripped off have been reported, Khanh said.
“Hence, we should have tourism police who will help resolve the issue,” he urged.
In backing his argument, Khanh said other neighboring countries, such as Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Singapore, have already established such forces, and they do a good job of protecting tourists there.
The suggestion was shared by other delegates, including Pham Thi Thu Thuy, deputy chairman of the local government of Quang Ninh Province.
“We need tourism police to protect tourists and combat criminals,” she said.
In concluding the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan, head of the government’s steering board on tourism, said, “We acknowledge the proposal, but setting up the tourism police force is not something that can be done overnight.”
From now until the end of the year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism will review all of the relevant regulations to see if it can assign the police force in charge of social order to protect tourists as well, Nhan said.
“We will also consider the possibility of setting up a tourism police force,” he said.
Improvement needed
Nhan also supported the idea of setting up a tourist support center at key tourism destinations, as well as to open local tourism fairs to introduce more products to holidaymakers.
“The tourism cities are also encouraged to offer free WiFi services for tourists, like Hoi An and Ha Long are doing,” he said.
He also requested that the localities tighten checks on taxi operations, in order to prevent drivers from ripping off tourists.
Another big issue that needs to be improved is restrooms for tourists, he added.
“Only 26 percent of the restrooms at tourism spots in HCMC meet standards, while there are as many as 74 percent are below par facilities,” he said, citing a recent survey.
“Chiefs of the local governments of the provinces and cities should assign relevant agencies to improve this kind of infrastructure to better serve tourism activities,” he requested.
Vietnam must have tourism police: official
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