What's the shady about Vietnam's tourism and shopping?

Recently, some tourist shops in Vietnam aimed at tourists from China sold inferior latex products made in China and "fake jade" made of glass to tourists from China at high prices.

Chen Mou, who knows something about the operation of Nha Trang shopping malls in Vietnam, claimed that these shopping malls cooperated with domestic low-cost tour groups and chartered flight merchants, and hired China to guide them and get commission from sales. A shopping mall can receive 10 bus tourists every day on average, and tourists who buy cars spend more than 10 million yuan on jewelry.

Among the tourists from China who go to Vietnamese shopping stores, tourists from Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Northeast China spend more.

"Tourists ordered latex products that are considered to be made in Vietnam at the shopping store. Some shopping stores will ship directly from China to tourists from a logistics enterprise in Chongzuo, Guangxi, and the latex pad does not need to be shipped to Vietnam first. The jadeite in some shopping stores is the latest glass produced by Guangdong Sihui. " Chen claimed.

China has been the largest source country in Vietnam's tourism market for many years, and compared with Thailand, which was favored by China tourists earlier, Vietnam has a more emerging trend.

According to the statistics of Vietnam Statistics Bureau, in the first seven months of 20 17, the number of tourists to China reached 2.2 million, up by 5 1% year-on-year, accounting for nearly 30% of all foreign tourists to Vietnam. In Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Da Nang, where there are many tourists in China, shopping shops mainly for China tourists have become lucrative businesses.

Being a latex shopping store and an emerald shopping store in Vietnam can achieve profits of 10 and 30 times respectively.

Li said that latex and jadeite can be purchased from Guangzhou and Wenzhou in China. "Latex stores have little profit margin, and they are all produced by foundries, branded with Vietnamese brands and shipped to Vietnam by sea containers. Latex is expensive in Vietnam and cheap in Wenzhou. "

Li also revealed that the jadeite sold by shopping stores generally chooses A goods, and the purchase channel "can go to Guangzhou Liwan Square to have a look". He also said that buyers don't know what to do and may buy fakes. In shopping stores in Vietnam, there are also processed jadeites selling B goods and C goods. Now some Vietnamese jade shops employ people from Yunnan jade shops to run them. "Otherwise, it is unprofessional and can't be done." He said.

Mr. Deng, a veteran of the tourism industry, said that a friend of his began to enter the business of Shiyazhuang Shopping Store more than ten years ago. The local shopping market was originally opened by Russians, and then gradually developed into a China store. He invested 3 million in shopping stores and earned about 300 million a year. "Their shopping store will communicate with the travel agency before receiving the tour group to find out where the tourists come from, what the economic conditions are, and whether they are rural elderly." Mr. Deng said.

Chen said that most shopkeepers in China in Vietnam are Vietnamese overseas Chinese. Operators rent Vietnamese licenses at a price of 1000 yuan per month. Stores are generally selected in suburbs or factories to avoid government inspection. Shopping shops are only allowed to enter China. China's shareholders will share the profits of Yunnan underground banks. Domestic travel agencies with close cooperation have also fallen into this gray chain. "Some travel agencies specialize in shopping in Da Nang, Vietnam, and some specialize in shopping in Nha Trang, one site at a time." He said.

"Things like Nha Trang Shopping Center have sprung up in some emerging destinations and formed a relatively stable interest chain." Yang Yanfeng, an associate researcher at Beijing Union University, said that after the domestic zero-negative tour fee was suppressed by supervision, the industry gradually turned overseas.

Not only in Vietnam, Zhou Hao, a tourist photographer, said that because he had done medicinal materials business in Laos and knew the local market, he found that in Laos, the purchase price of fresh and high-quality Dendrobium was RMB 1 kg in 240 yuan, while in the shopping shops opened by China people, the price reached RMB 2,500 to RMB 2,600 per kg. The goods are real, but the price has gone up tenfold.

Yang Yanfeng said that the regulatory effect of domestic regulatory agencies on the business activities of such outbound destinations is limited.

"Domestic institutions have no jurisdiction and can only restrain domestic tour groups. They cannot participate in low-cost tours and shopping groups, investigate and deal with the phenomenon of zero-negative tour fees, and do a good job in returning tourists." He said that many products of overseas shopping stores are not fakes, but the prices are artificially high. Tourists don't know much about their price system, and there is no transparent price mechanism for overseas shopping. They suffered losses immediately, and the proportion of complaints afterwards was not high.

In Thailand, another popular destination for outbound travel, the tourism management law enforcement departments of Thailand and China vigorously rectified the zero tour fee on 20 16, monopolizing the behind-the-scenes group of China tour groups-OA Transportation Group, which was investigated and dealt with by the law enforcement departments. Since then, the local tourism environment in Thailand has improved, but the price of tourist routes to Thailand has increased.

In September last year, the Yunnan Tourism Development Committee announced a number of investigated Yunnan travel agencies, of which 12 were cancelled for organizing tourists to shop and organizing unreasonable low-cost tours. Cynthia said that some of these travel agencies are involved in the interest chain of bringing tourism to southern shopping stores.

Lawyer Yang Hangsheng of Beijing Tongchuang Law Firm said that it is difficult to supervise the illegal operation of overseas shopping stores due to the geographical restrictions of state administrative power.

"But if you sell fake goods and provide false commodity information, involving fraud, reaching a certain amount, you will be brought to justice. For example, in China, it is a crime that the group involved infringes on the interests of consumers in China, or that China people commit crimes abroad. " Yang Hangsheng suggested that China tourists should avoid low-cost travel when traveling abroad, and enhance their awareness of rights protection when shopping. Once they find that the other party is suspected of fraud, they can try to solve it through complaints or legal channels.