Vietnamese tourists "afraid" of Phu Quoc?
Escape, Australia's leading travel magazine, has just announced the list of top trending destinations for next year's Easter holiday (late March). Vietnam's Phu Quoc island has surpassed Bali and Phuket to become the new paradise for Australian tourists. Previously, Phu Quoc was also the only representative of Vietnam in the top best islands in the world in 2023, voted by readers of the prestigious Condé Nast Traveler magazine (Readers' Choice Awards 2023)...
"Bombarding" international rankings, but domestically, the tourism capital of the West is increasingly losing ground. For 3 consecutive peak seasons since the beginning of the year, Phu Quoc has been knocked off the list of the "hottest" destinations for domestic visitors. The number of visitors not only did not increase but also tended to decrease compared to 2022. Most recently, on the occasion of the September 2 holiday, the pearl island only welcomed 62,544 visitors, recording an unprecedented record decrease - down 26.5% compared to the same period last year. A series of restaurants, beaches, tourist areas, and canoe services that were famous in Duong Dong town, An Thoi or the southern area of Phu Quoc island are deserted. High-end and budget hotels and resorts have room occupancy rates of only 20 - 30%. On all social networking sites for Phu Quoc island tourism, wherever you "surf", you will see complaints about the lack of guests, unsold rooms, and lost revenue.
Located in the top of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Phu Quoc is increasingly losing its position as the tourist capital of the West.
After many seminars and meetings, with the causes identified as high airfares and expensive services, many businesses have now lowered service prices, not increased room rates..., making efforts to dispel the ugly image of service prices and erase the title of "a destination only for the rich". However, the situation is still not very positive.
"Last year, the pandemic had just ended, but I sold more Phu Quoc tours than this year. It's the best season, but I still haven't seen any customers asking about going to Phu Quoc," said Ms. Ha Tran Thanh Linh, a retail travel service agent in Hanoi. According to Ms. Linh, Phu Quoc land tour prices have not increased much this year, and there are still many good room rates. But the increase in domestic airfares has affected many people's choices.
Not only because of the airfare, Mr. Huynh Thanh Hoang, a freelance tour guide in Phu Quoc, said that Vietnamese tourists are increasingly "afraid" of the pearl island because of the situation of overcharging. "Many of my guests just landed at the airport and asked jokingly: "When you travel abroad, people know you have money. If you travel to Phu Quoc, people will know you have a lot of money." Hearing them say that, although I felt sad, I did not dare to argue. Phu Quoc has changed a lot in recent years, there are cases of motorbikes being stolen, it is not as peaceful as before. The restaurants serving tourists on tours are of poor quality, and customers who order extra are charged very high prices. Some customers complained after eating because they ordered an extra fish and were charged 1.2 million VND. Even locals like us sometimes get ripped off when we take customers out, stop by somewhere to eat. There was a time when I spent 100,000 VND on lunch, my friend somehow sneaked into the restaurant and was charged 520,000 VND. As someone who also works in the tourism industry, I see that prices are now competing to increase, under the pretext of identifying service level but in reality, it is more of a grab-and-go approach," said Mr. Hoang.
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Take strong action against "overcharging"
Phu Quoc is not a rare case of being turned away by tourists because of high prices. More than a decade ago, Sam Son (Thanh Hoa) was one of the typical examples of a tourist "capital" that left a bad impression on tourists because of rampant "rip-offs". In the memories of many people, Sam Son is a crowded beach, where every few miles you see shabby restaurants and street vendors soliciting tourists along the coast. For a long time, Sam Son was labeled an "adventure tourist destination" because of rip-offs, soliciting, begging, rampant trading, and lack of planning, which scared tourists. These are the things that have caused the number of tourists to Sam Son to decrease.
By 2012, a strong campaign was launched by the local government to restore the image of the top tourist beach in the North. The city leaders (then a town) continuously stepped up inspections and strictly handled units and individuals who violated regulations on business and service attitudes towards tourists. The solution that has been persistently implemented over the years is inspections and penalties through the hotline system. "The hotline always has staff on duty. When there is information, we verify it and after 10 minutes, we must have information to report to superiors. In case of violations, we will handle it according to the law. If the violation causes a major impact, we may prosecute criminally," said the leader of the People's Committee of Sam Son City.
From 2021 to now, this locality has also thoroughly applied technology by integrating 155 facial recognition cameras to monitor and promptly handle cases of non-compliance with traffic light signals; cars parked and stopped in the wrong places; arbitrarily selling small-scale street vendors on urban roads and sidewalks; acts of encroaching on sidewalks for business, parking, construction materials on the streets... At the same time, Sam Son City actively propagates to people about the policy of developing sustainable tourism, changing the "quick-fix" mindset, making them understand that forcing down the price of a coconut, 2 bowls of rice... does not bring long-term effectiveness. On the contrary, if they behave friendly, people can make money from tourists many times.
Up to now, the security situation and the phenomenon of soliciting tourists have basically disappeared. From the April 30 holiday until the end of the peak summer season this year, Sam Son welcomed over 6 million visitors, but there was no information reflecting the overcharging or forcing of customers. Taking advantage of the additional advantages from the gradually forming pieces of the North-South expressway, Sam Son has transformed into a destination that is always in the top "hottest" in the northern region, aiming to become an international coastal tourist city.
According to Mr. Truong Cong Tam, Chairman of the Phu Quoc Professional Tour Guide Association, the management of tourism services in Phu Quoc needs to face the reality that this work still has many limitations, which is also the reason why tourists are discouraged. It must be admitted that the Phu Quoc tourism industry still has many shortcomings, such as some small tourist transport vehicles, deliberately charging low prices, providing incorrect advice to attract customers, then bringing them to shopping centers and substandard businesses. At the Phu Quoc night market, the situation of taxis and electric cars parked everywhere causes disorder. Or at the piers in the south of Phu Quoc island, many ships are not operating according to maritime safety regulations, as soon as the passenger vehicles arrive at the port, dozens of people rush out, surrounding the passengers to sell goods. "We are a major tourist destination, but if these problems are not resolved, it will cause frustration for tourists. These are problems that have existed for a long time, not recently, and are the main reason why visitors to Phu Quoc have decreased," Mr. Tam commented.
"Many customers asked about Phu Quoc tours and thought about the high prices. Just this morning, a friend asked about going to the island for New Year's holiday. Booking air tickets was too expensive, so he asked me if the combo was cheaper. But how could it be cheaper because the increase in airfare pushed up the combo price. So they switched to asking Da Nang. In general, this year we have had a slow season in Phu Quoc. Big agents also complained a lot."
Ms. Ha Tran Thanh Linh , retail agent of tourism services in Hanoi
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