16 Korean illegal tour guides expelled

08:37' 04/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Sixteen Korean tour guides who had been working illegally in Vietnam were fined and expelled in May 2007, said Pham Huynh Cong, chief inspector of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT). Foreign tour guides flock to Hanoi Illegal travel operations boom In the past six months, more than 250,000 Korean visitors have come to Vietnam, the second largest number after China. However, Vietnam has only 50 tour guides who speak the Korean language. The imbalance between supply and demand has created good conditions for Korean people to work illegally in Vietnam. The chief inspector said that some Korean people come to Vietnam to do business but they work as tour guides. Some Korean students who are studying Vietnamese in Vietnam also organise tours. These acts have caused losses of tax revenues for Vietnam. Moreover, the image of Vietnam can be distorted if a foreign tour guide lies about Vietnam. They also bring foreign visitors to high-price shops owned by Korean people. In the first half of 2007, the tourism inspectorate fined 40 companies and individuals who violated the tourism rules, totaling more than VND300 million (US$18,750). The agency not only discovered Korean people but also Lao and Thai people illegally working as tour guides in Vietnam. Training Korean people as tour guides in Vietnam To meet the need for tour guides who can speak Korean, local travel companies are encouraged to recruit Korean-speaking people to serve Korean travelers, said Pham Tu, Deputy Head of VNAT. VNAT will also open training classes for Korean people who are living in Vietnam and allow travel companies to recruit them as tour guides. Mr Tu also said that the Tourism Law of Vietnam will be amended because many countries in the world allowed foreign tour guides to work in their countries and this regulation could help the tourism sector to deal with the shortage of tour guides for some kinds of languages. “We have received many letters from visitors who comment that Vietnamese tour guides have poor knowledge of Vietnamese culture while many foreigners have deep understanding of Vietnamese culture. So we should allow foreign tour guides to work in Vietnam in the coming time,” Mr Tu said. In the past six months, 2.1 million foreign visitors have come to Vietnam, up by 14% compared to the same period last year. (Source: Viet Nam Net)