Official urges improving tourism service quality                                     dtinews.vn                                    Tourism managers must find solutions to deal with several problems in the industry so as to improve the country’s attractiveness, one official has said. Deputy Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan worked with tourism managers on June 6 in Hanoi. He pointed out seven problems in the industry that desperately need improving. Prominent problems include lax management, lack of responsibility by managers, insufficient warning information for tourists, lack of long-term strategies for tourism services, price gouging and cheating, and overcrowding at several tourists sites. Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho Anh Tuan named several places where often record cases of price gouging, cheating and robberies to tourists including Hanoi, HCM City, Ha Long in Quang Ninh Province, Vung Tau in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Cua Lo in Nghe An Province, Sam Son in Thanh Hoa Province, Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province and Dalat in Lam Dong Province. According to him, Sam Son is the most notorious for such problems while local authorities seem to have yet to take any actions. Price gouging puts off foreign tourists from visiting Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan, who is the head of the National Steering Committee for Tourism, said ministries, branches and local authorities must find out drastic measures to improve the situation. He took the crack down on misconducts in the tourism industry in Hanoi as an example. “Hanoi has tightened control over taxi operations citywide so as to improve service quality, especially for tourists,” he said. He has assigned the Ministry of Transport in coordination with the Vietnam Informatics Association as well as Hanoi and HCM City municipal governments to study measures to putting up cameras at major airports so as to better control taxi operations there. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism must continue efforts to work out a new slogan for the country’s tourism industry with due attention paid to hospitality. He required that the ministry compile and submit to the prime minister for approval an instructive to intensify tourism safety and security before June 15. Source: VGP