Tourism police to protect foreigners
written by seo
at Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has been asked by
its department in Ha Noi to establish a tourism police force dedicated
to protecting visitors who are increasingly suffering from tourist scams
in the capital.
Cases are reported daily of foreign tourists being overcharged by
taxi drivers and cheated by hotel employees. This has negatively
affected the image of both the city and the country in the eyes of
international visitors, said the department's deputy director Mai Tien
Dung.
A crackdown on security management has been conducted in
hotels, hostels and resorts, Dung said, adding that despite this,
inspections could only go so far to solve the problems in the absence of
specific regulations.
His department has proposed that as well
as forming a special police force, other measures should be implemented.
They suggested that crimes against tourists, such as overcharging,
stealing and harassment from peddlers should be met with heavy fines.
Colonel
Dao Duy Ngoc, deputy director of the city's police department, agreed
with the proposal for the creation of a tourism police force. "This is a
good idea. We will set up the force as soon as it is approved by a
higher authority".
While the establishment of the force is
considered an effective measure to tackle crime in the tourism sector,
some people have argued that it has limitations.
Such issues
arouse partly due to the lack of authorities' sufficient management in
tourism. Major-General Le Van Cuong, former director of the Institute of
Strategy and Science under the Ministry of Public Service, said that
the force alone would not solve all the problems.
"The tourism
industry should firstly analyse its strength and weakness. Only then
will it know if co-operation from other authorities is necessary," he
said.
"Another important measure is to raise people's awareness so
that tourist businesses are fully conscious of the risks that their
customers face and potential scammers know that their behaviour is
unacceptable," he pointed out.
"However, if the police are needed
whenever a problem occurs, then we will definitely set up a specific
police force in the future," he added.
Souce: Google.com
Tags: Vietnam Tours | Vietnam travel | Laos tours | Cambodia Tours | Indochina Tours
