Many tourist attractions have become inundated with vendors, shoeblacks, itinerant vagrants or the impoverished, causing a nuisance for guests in the city.
This interaction damages a guest's first impression of the southern metropolis.
The municipal tourism sector has spent a lot of time, money, and efforts attracting international tourists yet street vendors and itinerant vagrants may cancel all of the hard work.
At the busy intersection of Le Loi and Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Streets in District 1, home to popular shopping spots like Saigon Center and Saigon Square, large groups of up to 30 vagrants often gather, swarming tourists in the area.
Street vendors sell products on a crowded sidewalk despite peddling banning signs in Ho Chi Minh City. |
A local tour guide said whenever he takes tourists to Saigon Square, women carrying their children and souvenir sellers attempt to pull tourists away, forcing the group to walk faster to escape.
At the Saigon Central Post Office, vendors quickly approach tourists as soon as they step out of their vehicles and persistently follow them, refusing to leave until the tourists exit the building.
At other tourist destinations, such as Ben Thanh Market, War Remnants Museum, Reunification Palace, and Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, sellers of coconut juice and souvenirs are rampant even with peddler ban signage in the vicinity.
Peddlers cling to tourists in Ho Chi Minh City. |
A coconut juice trader persistently follows two tourists at the Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh City. |
Two shoeblacks approach a tourist on Le Loi Street in Ho Chi Minh City. |
A peddler displays his souvenirs up close to a tourist’s face in Ho Chi Minh City. |
A group of tourists appear shocked when a local shoeshiner touches their shoes in Ho Chi Minh City. |
The vagrant population is rife in front of trade centers on Le Loi, Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, and Ly Tu Trong Streets in Ho Chi Minh City. |
Peddlers swarm tourists as soon as they step off their tour vehicles and persistently follow them, only relenting once the tourists leave the Saigon Central Post Office in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. |
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