What are your biggest fears when traveling to Vietnam? Check to see if the Vietnamese deputy prime minister really knows what you think.

Vu Duc Dam said he is so concerned about Vietnamese tourism, which has suffered repeatedly declining foreign arrival numbers over the past year, that he has worked out six things which he believes are the worst nightmares for foreign tourists.

Topping the list is overpricing and rip-offs.

“This is not just about money,” the deputy premier told reporters on the sidelines of a National Assembly meeting on Thursday.

“Tourists not only lose money, but also feel disrespected and offended.”

The next three biggest fears are unsafe traffic, beggars and thefts and terrible food safety.

“Many of the sidewalk eateries are unhygienic,” he said.

The sixth obsession is the poor awareness of environmental protection, with dirty public restrooms and widespread littering, according to the deputy premier.

Finally, there is the bad behavior toward tourists of local sellers, who fail to behave politely to holidaymakers who do not buy their stuff.

“People always say Vietnam has beautiful nature and nice, friendly people, but why is our tourist industry so unattractive and uncompetitive?” Dam said.

“Look at Thailand and Malaysia, which welcome 27 million to 30 million vacationers a year, and Singapore, up to 16 million tourists a year,” Dam said.

The deputy premier added that the Thai tourist industry is making US$50-60 billion a year.

How about Vietnam? “We rake in only $10 billion from eight million visitors a year,” Dam said.

The deputy prime minister said while there are many things that need to be done to boost tourism development, such as improving infrastructure and creating new tourism products, there exist “problems that can be solved without money,” which are the six biggest fears he mentioned.

“These are not tourism issues but those of culture and lifestyle which we have to change,” he elaborated.

“Vietnam might still be a poor country but if each citizen is aware of resolving these issues, we will be able to make our tourism better.”

Reality proves

The six issues pointed out by the deputy premier are in fact those most complained about by international tourists, who joined a month-long discussion held by Tuoi Tre News in April.

The nuisances of dangerous traffic, scams and overpricing, for instance, are the reasons that an expat living in Hoi An in central Vietnam believes are why tourists do not return to the country, as he wrote to Tuoi Tre News in this op-ed.

The widespread litter issue mentioned by Dam is well illustrated by the story of Carlo Campisrn, an Italian backpacker who told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that floating rubbish ruined his trip to the UNESCO-recognized Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

And it is not uncommon for foreign tourists to be advised to keep a close watch on their belongings and beware of theft whenever they set off for a destination in Vietnam, as Phan Xuan Anh, chairman of Du Ngoan Viet Co., wrote in another op-ed sent to Tuoi Tre.

Vietnam’s international tourist arrival numbers dropped for the 12th consecutive month in May, according to the General Statistics Office.

Even so, a recent survey conducted by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism found that most foreign tourists have “excellent” and “good” satisfaction with their trips to the Southeast Asian country, a result that raised skepticism among industry insiders.

The survey polled 13,980 tourists, who were randomly selected as they were leaving Vietnam after finishing their trips.

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