Why is the 'zero-dong tour' causing a stir in the border area?

According to the Mong Cai International Border Guard Station, after the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin 2024, the number of Chinese tourists entering Vietnam for tourism has increased dramatically. Among them, mainly the elderly, they are taken to predetermined stores and are not allowed to deviate from their journey.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tao, a businessman specializing in welcoming Chinese tourists, said that the "zero-dong tour" in Quang Ninh has emerged because the ecosystem of this market has returned, which is the shopping stores around Mong Cai International Border Gate have reopened after a period of silence.

According to Mr. Tao, the shop owners had a "secret" agreement with the travel agency to welcome guests, which created a wave of "zero-dong tours" in Mong Cai City recently. The revenue of the shops is the place to offset the cost of this infamous tour.

According to PV's observations over the past few days at Mong Cai international border gate, from 8am, instead of being taken to cultural centers and scenic sites, tourists are taken to designated shopping stores.

While shopping malls and commercial markets are deserted, stores specializing in "zero-cost tours" welcome thousands of people every day.

According to the reporter's investigation, this group of tourists coming to Quang Ninh were not on "pure tourism" tours, so in early March, nearly 100 Chinese people were abandoned by a travel company and had to return home on their own.

Currently, the authorities of Quang Ninh province have drawn up a record and completed the documents to handle the case.

The "power" card and the strange interpretive device

During the days of researching the "zero-dong tour" tourists in Mong Cai City, we easily saw that all the elderly tourists were wearing a card with the words in Chinese, which translated to "Customs clearance and rest". In addition, the card also had a serial number for the companies to control the tourists.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Duong Quoc Dung - a Chinese tour guide said that tourists are required to wear this card to be allowed inside stores to shop.

"The tour guides will tell Chinese tourists that when wearing this card, they are enjoying the privileges of people during the immigration process within the border gate. Therefore, all tourists are happy to wear this card to go shopping," said Mr. Dung.

According to the reporter's observation, all the tour guides were holding a large bag of cards with straps to give to tourists before coming to Vietnam.

In addition to the above card, Chinese tourists also wear a commentary device around their neck. Travel agencies have prepared content so that when tourists go somewhere, they will play the commentary and the sound is transmitted separately to the tourists' ears. With this method, the tour guide's commentary will not make noise and the authorities will have difficulty controlling the content.

Publicly selling products with fabricated information

To attract Chinese tourists on "zero-dollar tours" to shop, stores have offered many products with fabricated information.

A typical example is Hung Cuong shopping store in Hai Hoa Ward (Mong Cai City). This facility specializes in selling items related to fish oil, shark cartilage, etc.

Outside the lobby, the store hung a board with information about the life expectancy of elderly people living in provinces and cities in Vietnam. According to the board, due to using fish oil from the store, these people all have a life expectancy of over 100 years old; there is even an elderly person in Dien Bien province who lives to be... 116 years old. However, through inspection by the interdisciplinary team of Mong Cai City, this information is not true.

In fact, every time the authorities of Mong Cai City conduct an inspection, they discover that these stores sell counterfeit goods of many famous international fashion brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel... or sell goods of unknown origin.

Most recently, yesterday afternoon, March 28, within just 1 hour, the interdisciplinary delegation of Mong Cai City requested the suspension of 2 stores specializing in "zero-dong tours" due to violations of business conditions.

Explaining the "zero-dong tour", Dr. Tran Nhuan Vinh, a long-time tourism worker in Quang Ninh, said that "zero-dong tour" is understood as "zero entrance fee", a type of tourism service provided by a travel company, in which the travel company only charges a very low fee or no fee for tourists, usually including round-trip transportation and entrance fees. Travel companies can make up for the lack of funds by making a profit from tourists' shopping and other self-paid activities at the tourist destination.

Dr. Tran Nhuan Vinh added that with this model, tour guides often use many different methods to encourage tourists to buy expensive items, especially gold and silver jewelry, precious stones, luxury goods, health care foods, technological equipment and other items...

This behavior is not only considered a form of "fraud" but also negatively affects the tourist experience during the trip. In order to regulate the tourism market, many countries and regions have begun to crack down on the "no tour fee" phenomenon and require travel companies to provide more transparent tour price information with better service.