Hanoi has once again shown its determination to clear the vendors who solicit a welcome to foreign travelers and ask them to buy souvenirs, thus smearing the image of Hanoi’s tourism in the eyes of travelers.
Vendors – the “most hospitable hosts” in the capital city
The ancient house on Ma May Street, Hanoi is the place which all foreign travelers would be advised to visit if they want to learn more about the ancient streets in the capital city.
However, before entering the house, travelers would have to meet a lot of women who ask insistently to buy low cost souvenirs. No one would be able to avoid meeting them, because this has been their “working area” for years.
On other ancient streets of Hang Be, Ma May, Hang Bac or at the entrance gate to the Ngoc Son Temple, one would see some women with vegetables put on the peddles on the shoulders. However, they are not the vendors. When seeing some “potential clients,” they would come to meet them, exchange greetings and then invite foreign travelers to take pictures with them.
After taking pictures, the women would ask the travelers to pay fees for their work as the “models.” Sometimes travelers have to spend hundreds of thousands of dong for the pictures. Meanwhile, in most of cases, travelers would spend tens of thousands of dong to escape from the vendors.
The same business tricks have also been played by the group of workers at the Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam (the Temple of Literature). The foreign travelers, who just after getting out from buses, would meet a lot of women who come up to them and ask to buy souvenirs.
Even though foreign travelers try to make a gesture with the hand to say “no, thank you,” the women would still surround the travelers and only leave if the travelers agree to buy something from them.
The vendors not only try to ask people insistently to buy things, they would also overcharge travelers.
Alex Winkins, a British traveler complained to the Hanoi tourism department that he was asked to pay 10 dollars, or 200,000 dong for a T-shirt, while the same T-shirt is sold at tens of thousands of dong on pavement markets. A bottle of mineral water could be priced up to 50,000 dong, while its actual price is just 8000 dong.
Local authorities powerless
The officials of the Hanoi Department for Culture, Sports and Tourism understand well that the behaviors have spoiled the image of Hanoi in the eyes of foreign travelers. However, they seem to be powerless in dealing with the problem, because of the current unreasonable regulations.
Nguyen Quoc Hoa, Deputy Chair of the Hoan Kiem District People’s Committee, said 100 vendors have been fined for their behaviors of bothering travelers so far this year. However, this has not helped ease the problem.
Also according to Hoa, most of the vendors are immigrant workers who come from other provinces to Hanoi to earn their living. Therefore, the local authorities do not have updated information about their temporary residence addresses. Meanwhile, it is helpless to send notification to their home villages.
He said that under the current regulations, competent agencies can temporarily seize the goods of the vendors, and then make the decision to confiscate the goods, if the people violate the regulations for the second and subsequent times. Meanwhile, it is necessary to set up a council with the representatives from different relating agencies to ruin exhibits, which really takes time.
However, despite the obstacles, the Hanoi authorities have launched a new campaign to clear the violating vendors, which is expected to last 10 days, from August 16 to August 27.