It is a country close to China, once deeply helped by China, and even domestic economic development can not be separated from China.
But this is a country that not only supports local restaurants in labeling "China not welcome" and "China not allowed to enter."
Even extending hands to Chinese tourists asking for money, if they refuse, they will be humiliated and beaten.
This country with the inscription "Do not welcome Chinese people" on the doorstep, what happens now?
Special treatment for Chinese tourists
This shameless small country is Vietnam.
In May 2016, a group of 11 Chinese tourists boarded a flight to Vietnam, and the guide reminded the passengers in the cabin before departure that it was best to prepare a fee of 10 yuan at the time of entry.
Although tourists are puzzled by this request, they have prepared change in order to start the trip smoothly.
When arriving at the Vietnam airport and entering the country, everyone followed the tour guide's suggestion and handed the tip in their passports. The customs officers quickly stamped the tip and released it without any twists and turns in the whole process.
At the time of the return, one of the three members of the travel team during the exit inspection, due to questioning the additional "procedure fees" charged by the customs staff, was surrounded by three uniformed personnel at the checkpoint.
The father tried to take out his mobile phone to record the situation, but was snatched away by the other party and fell to the ground. He was then kicked and kicked. The mother screamed in fear while holding the child. The child's crying attracted other group members.
Seeing that their compatriots were bullied, the remaining eight tourists immediately stepped forward to protest and demanded that the other party stop the violence.
After an hour of impasse between the two sides, the staff of the Chinese embassy in Vietnam arrived at the scene to coordinate, and the Vietnamese customs did not attempt to stop the conflict, but only apologized for the "emotional upset of the staff" and did not make any compensation for the injured tourists.
In October 2016, a blogger shared his experience of traveling to Vietnam.
She searched a large number of attacks in advance and found that many netizens mentioned Vietnamese customs requests for small fees, but there were also some visitors who said that "insisting on not giving can pass".
With the mentality of giving it a try, when the blogger and her boyfriend entered the country, they only handed in their passports without tips.
When the customs officer looked through the passport, his face became obviously worse. After repeatedly checking it for nearly five minutes, he also asked a few words about the itinerary in Vietnamese, and finally stamped it and released it.
On the day of exit, the blogger was suddenly stopped at the check desk, and the staff pointed to her visa saying that the procedure was "incomplete", and then scratched the visa page on her face.
It was not until he saw that several other China tourists who had not given a tip encountered the same situation that the blogger understood that it was deliberate retaliation and could only pay a "fine" of 200 yuan before leaving, while tourists who had re-applied for visas delayed their return flights.
In February 2017, Hunan tourist Sharif took his wife and mother to Vietnam to travel to Sharif Harbour, and Sharif was asked for a fee at the time of customs clearance, and it was enough to give three times.
On the return journey, at the Mangjie port for exit inspection, Xie Feng's family was dragged to the next room by four border guards for refusing to tip.
Xie Feng tried to resist, but was immediately surrounded and beaten. Three ribs were broken and multiple cuts on his forehead and arms were made; his wife Xiaoli's mobile phone and passport were taken away.
Xiaoli took the opportunity to rush out of the room and ran to the China Border Inspection Station at Dongxing Port for help. The border inspection personnel immediately contacted the embassy and assisted in sending the doctor.
Shefeng was diagnosed with rib fracture and soft tissue fractures, hospitalized for half a month, while the Vietnamese side has always held the attitude, only through the embassy to transmit "will investigate", but did not give any specific treatment results.
And the unfriendly behavior against Chinese tourists in Vietnam is far more than customs blackmail.
Anti-China phenomena occur frequently
Stepping into Vietnam, unfriendly behavior towards Chinese tourists extends from customs to every corner of daily consumption.
In Vietnam's small restaurants, convenience shops, fruit shops, seafood listings and other places, the words "Chinese enter the store forgive" and "not sell to Chinese" can be seen everywhere on glass doors, treasures or stands.
This targeted exclusion is not based on differences in service capabilities or consumption habits, but simply on nationality as a criterion, directly blocking Chinese tourists.
Even worse, some merchants do not explicitly refuse Chinese tourists to enter the store, but apply a "differential treatment" on prices.
The same mineral water, local customers buy at the price of the normal market level, selling to Chinese tourists the price directly doubled; ordinary Vietnamese spring roll, rice powder and other specialty snacks, the offer for Chinese tourists is generally higher than local customers 1.5 to 2 times.
Once China tourists detect abnormal prices and question or try to bargain, the merchants will immediately change their faces, use Chinese to make verbal attacks, or even directly push the tourists out of the store.
In terms of payment methods, some shops clearly support mobile payment merchants, but they lie to Chinese tourists that "cash settlement can only be done", forcing tourists to use cash transactions.
In this way, merchants not only have the consideration of convenience to increase prices at will, but also have the hidden danger that it is difficult to retain evidence for subsequent rights protection.
What's more, after tourists ask to go to a nearby ATM to withdraw cash, they forcibly detain their carry-on luggage, backpacks and other items, and force tourists to pay in cash on the spot by "mortgage", and only return the items after tourists pay as required.
A series of unfriendly acts against Chinese tourists also eventually triggered a strong wave of boycotts.
The report arrived.
More and more China tourists are beginning to boycott travel to Vietnam.
The country's major travel agencies quickly reacted, starting in the second quarter of 2017, several well-known tourism platforms followed up with Vietnam tourist lines, and traditional travel agencies also suspended the reception of group reservations in Vietnam.
In the second half of 2017, the number of Chinese tourists to Vietnam decreased by 62% compared to the second half of 2017, and Vietnam’s attractions, restaurants and hotels, once crowded with Chinese tourists, quickly fell into the cold.
The sharp drop in tourists has directly impacted Vietnam's tourism industry. Restaurants in many places in Vietnam have closed down one after another due to insufficient passenger flow, and some blocks even have "facade transfers".
Resorts and hotels in coastal cities have dropped from 80 percent to less than 30 percent, and a large number of small and medium-sized hotels have been forced to shut down due to their inability to pay rent.
The downturn in tourism has also affected upstream and downstream industries, with tour guides, drivers, souvenir vendors and other employees losing their sources of income. In the second half of 2017 alone, the number of unemployed people in Vietnam's tourism-related industries exceeded 150,000.
After the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, Vietnam's tourism industry has intensified, and the border closure has completely halted the already poor tourism industry.
After the reopening of the border in 2022, the number of Chinese tourists has not yet recovered, and even though Vietnam's tourism sector has introduced preferential policies such as visa simplification and discounted sightseeing tickets, there are still few Chinese tourists to visit Vietnam.
In order to save the market, the Vietnam government has begun to organize tourism practitioners to participate in Chinese service training, requiring scenic spots and businesses to remove discriminatory slogans and carry out special rectification of bullying and slaughtering.
Businesses in some tourist cities have also taken the initiative to put up Chinese banners "Welcome Chinese Tourists" in an attempt to repair their image.
At the same time, Vietnamese tourism industry is trying to turn to South Korea, Japan and other markets, but the number of tourists in these countries is limited, and consumer habits are very different from Chinese tourists, it is difficult to fill the gap left by Chinese tourists, and the tourism industry has always failed to get out of trouble.
However, rebuilding trust is much harder than adjusting policies.
Most Chinese tourists say that their experiences have made them lose confidence in Vietnam travel, even if their attitudes change, and are not willing to take the risk of traveling.
This crack of trust has made the way to the recovery of Vietnamese tourism long.
references
China News Network — 2017-02-13 «Bite by Vietnamese border guards tourist fiancée: three times asked for a fee was given»
Observer Network Comprehensive - 2016-08-01 "A Vietnamese restaurant issued an announcement refusing to accept Chinese tourists, and was ordered by the government to correct it"
Nine Pai News - 2023-10-05 "The National Day Vietnam Tour was cold, a driver in Danang said he only received two Chinese tourists in September"