Hanoi punishes street vendors for harassing foreigners
An official of the Hoan Kiem District, in Hanoi, central to the city's tourism, said that they have cracked down on nearly 140 street vendors for harassing foreign tourists since the beginning of this year.
A street vendor offers her products to two foreign tourists in the Old Quarter
According to vice chairman of the district’s People’s Committee, Nguyen Quoc Hoa, they have been paying attention to the issue for many years but the situation has not been improved due to light fines and lack of defined laws. At present, those caught are kept in custody for 12 hours and fined for offences such as disturbing foreigners, causing public disorder or not carrying an ID card.
“Many of these people are repeat violators, having been caught three or four times," he said.Hoa added that they are proposing a stricter punishment for those who are caught more than once. "If they are caught a second time, they may face criminal prosecution," he said.
Recently, the local media has reported an increase in the number of cases of foreign tourists being harassed or swindled in Hoan Kiem and Ba Dinh districts, which host several popular tourism sites.
Street vendors wearing traditional conical hats and carrying a shoulder poles with two baskets at have been widely reported as putting these items, without consent, onto tourists for photographs and then demanding for money for the 'service'.
Shoe shiners have also been found to be charging exorbitant prices to unsuspecting tourists.
Following such reports in the press, the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism asked district authorities to tighten control and levy stricter punishments for people who cheat tourists.
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