Popular coastal city in southern Vietnam to ban eating, drinking on beaches A crowded beach in Vung Tau City on February 12, 2016. Tuoi Tre Authorities in the popular coastal city of Vung Tau in southern Vietnam have announced that all forms of eating and drinking will be banned from its beaches from Tuesday onward, Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) newspaper reported on Monday. Located about 100 kilometers away from Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau City is a popular getaway destination for southerners, thanks to its beautiful beaches and fresh seafood. The People’s Committee of Vung Tau said on Friday that all catering businesses and cooperatives operating along the beaches are required to move all their equipment out of there. The committee prohibits all forms of catering businesses at the beaches starting Tuesday, as well as discouraging tourists from all eating and drinking activities on public beaches. The People’s Committee of Vung Tau also held an urgent meeting the same day to discuss the issue after some members of tourism cooperatives expressed their objection to the ban. Some demanded that tourists be allowed to bring cooked food to the beaches, or that the ban be postponed until after the upcoming public holiday this weekend, which celebrates the liberation of southern Vietnam and the country’s reunification in 1975. Representatives from the cooperatives said that most of their members understood and agreed to the ban, though some have lodged a complaint to the Party Committee and the People’s Committee of Vung Tau. Nguyen Ngoc Truong, head of the Economic Division of Vung Tau City, said that the prohibition on eating and drinking at the beaches is not a topic for debate. “Those who sell food at the beaches have already been violating two laws, even without the ban, which are sidewalk encroachment and conducting business without a license,” Truong pointed out. “These beaches are the tourism products of Vung Tau, but that doesn’t mean everyone should eat there,” he underlined. Truong went on to mention how allowing eating at the beaches had worsened littering, as beach cleaners collect hundreds of buried crab shell pits at the seaside every day. “For now, members of cooperatives who are running eateries at the beaches will be relocated to Vung Tau Tourism Market should they wish to continue their business,” Truong added.   A group of volunteers are seen collecting litter at a beach in Vung Tau City in October 2015. Photo: Tuoi Tre TUOI TRE NEWS