Police in Lam Dong Province in the Central Highlands region and the provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism are stepping up efforts to hunt for South Korean tour guides without work permits in Da Lat City.

A police officer said on Thursday that the provincial police agency is reviewing the illegal working of South Korean tour guides in the tourist city.

As part of the review, police will investigate travel firms to see whether or not they are employing South Korean tour guides without work permits or guide certificates rather than using Vietnamese tour guides. 

A few days ago, the provincial police took a man in for questioning after he was found to be guiding a group of South Korean tourists at Linh Phuoc Pagoda in the city’s Ward 11.

The man was identified as K.D., a 35-year-old South Korean who later admitted that he has worked for a travel firm in Nha Trang City, south-central Khanh Hoa Province since October.

K.D. also admitted to previously having guided three groups of tourists on trips to Khanh Hoa and Da Lat.

He confessed that he works as a tour guide but holds neither work permits nor international guide certificates.

Police in the province are continuing to review illegal labor employment and other problems linked to inbound tourism.

A South Korean tour guide had previously been discovered providing tourists with incorrect information and knowledge about the history of a tourist site in Da Lat.

In 2023, Lam Dong Province welcomed an estimated 400,000 international visitors, with arrivals from South Korea accounting for 53.3 percent of the total.

The sheer number of South Korean tourist arrivals has contributed to boosting the province’s tourism revenues, but the province is focusing on tourism sustainability, so it is vital to clamp down on illegal work among South Korean tour guides, said Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, deputy director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

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