Job Discussion Forums

[cb400]

Looks like the Viet authorities are onto the fact that tourism in VN does suck. Having lived there for 7 years many of my Vietnamese friends would ask why I never stayed in Vietnam for my holidays. I always tried to politely explain that I didn't vacationing/travel in Vietnam at all relaxing and the scams and overcharging is worse when you can understand what is being said about you. I have traveled to many places in VN on motorbike and buses and just cannot do it anymore. Now it seems security is an issue for female travelers and just horrendous service (what is actually normal in VN ) turns off tourist.

Laos and Thailand are my new vacation spots lately,

What about you guys?

http://www.thanhniennews.com/travel/vietnams-cave-tourism-boom-threatened-by-poor-services-security-33377.html

http://tuoitrenews.vn/business/23748/only-6-of-intl-tourists-return-to-vietnam-survey

[Prof.Gringo]

Never really liked "tourism" in Thailand, the Land of Scams

[VietCanada]

[cb400]

I've aways had good luck in Thailand, but I normally dont do the 'backpacker' trail when I go. I've been staying at the same hotel for years and know the staff well. I normally just chill out and enjoy street food, shopping and some bars when in BKK... It's nice being able to walk around and be invisible

[ExpatLuke]

Yeah, Vietnamese will rip off the foreigners. But it's usually the lower-class Vietnamese (street vendors, small shop owners, guest house owners). If you stick to the slightly higher class restaurants, hotels, and shopping places, you'll have set prices.

I've vacationed pretty extensively around SE Asia, and have Bali to be the worst in terms of harassing people while walking down the street. They'll jump in front of you, follow you, and sometimes even grab you. Annoying. Thailand wasn't bad at all. Cambodia was similar to Vietnam, but the haggling over prices is much easier there.

[kurtz]

[I'm With Stupid]

Vietnam doesn't yet have the concept that tourists want to be left alone at certain times, which they kinda get in Thailand. I'd say Thailand is worse for scams, but the thing that puts people off in Vietnam is the constant hassle. It's not just hassling tourists either, it's just the way things work here. How often are you sitting nowhere near a tourist area trying to have some food on the street, only to have someone come up and offer something to you, and then continue to shove it in your face really intrusively for about a minute? It's not just foreigners that get this treatment, and it's not just foreigners that are annoyed by it. I was out with a friend in district 6 the other day, and this woman came up to us and just started loudly reeling off everything she was selling, repeating it over and over right in our faces. Even the people on the tables around us were embarrassed. She only stopped when I did the same back in her face and she didn't know what to do. Now obviously if you go somewhere like Ben Thanh market, that's part of the experience, but if you're trying to relax on a beach in Hoi An, it can completely ruin your trip. Most countries with a big tourist industry get this and put restrictions on hawkers in certain places.

The other issue, of course, is that the cities simply aren't walkable (even streets that obviously should be pedestrianized like Bui Vien), which is a particular issue for tourists, because it puts them at the mercy of taxis, which is another area ripe for scams. Hoi An is the only town that's even attempted to address this, and even their they can't go the whole way, and still allow motorbikes in at certain times of day. So yeah, you get to the main tourist street and you have to walk up the middle of the road because motorbikes are parked on all of the pavements, and then you spend the entire time with people aggressively beeping at you because you're walking on the road. You only have to look at Bui Vien in Saigon to see how the authorities would rather ban walking before they banned motorbikes. There was a massive issue with congestion on that street, because of all the people sitting and drinking in the evening. So what did they do? Ban motorbikes? Of course not, they banned plastic chairs. The stupid thing is I bet half of the people who own businesses there, who would massively benefit from a pedestrianized road, wouldn't support it if it meant they had to walk an extra 100m to their business.