The tour group who had booked a four-day trip to the island through Taipei-based company We Love Tour was abandoned on February 9 after arriving at Phu Quoc International Airport due to of a payment dispute between the Taiwanese company and its local partner Winner International. Travel company.
The visitors arrived by charter flight on February 9. When they arrived at Phu Quoc International Airport, no vehicles or hotels were waiting for them, as We Love Tour had not paid the Vietnamese company in full and the two had not signed an agreement . final contract.
After the intervention of Phu Quoc authorities and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, the Taiwanese company was ordered to make full payment by February 26 and the Vietnamese company was ordered to continue welcoming tourists.
Pham Hai Quynh, director of the Institute for Asian Tourism Development, said: VnExpress the incident could “reduce the confidence” of tourists and international travel agencies in the Vietnamese tourism industry.
Quynh said that when the two failed to reach an agreement, the Vietnamese unit was “not wrong” to refuse to accept tourists.
His “humanitarian assistance” to the 292 tourists abandoned on the night of February 9 “was a remarkable act but wrong in principle because there was no definitive travel contract,” he added.
While acknowledging the Vietnamese company’s efforts, Quynh said its management “was inappropriate and ignored the seriousness of international cooperation and national tourism image.”
The tour operator should have notified Vietnamese and Taiwanese tourism authorities as soon as the incident occurred, Quynh added.
Nguyen Tien Dat, vice president of the Hanoi Tourism Club, said that when purchasing a tour, most tourists pay in full before the departure date and are not responsible for paying extra money to a unit during the trip.
Dat was referring to how tourists had to pay an extra $720 to the Vietnamese travel agency.
Hoang Tuan Minh, director of Winner Vietnam, said he would not have provided assistance if he had known the incident could go this far.
Minh said he had spent more than VND3 billion to support tourists and did not know when he would get his money back from the Taiwanese agency.
The Tourism Department of Kien Giang province, where Phu Quoc is located, is considering imposing fines on Winner International Travel Company for “violating regulations when providing travel services.”
Paul, living in Taipei, one of the tourists stranded in Phu Quoc, said VnExpress that Winner didn’t make things difficult for him during the trip.
On the second day in Phu Quoc, when they received a request to pay an additional $720 per guest, he and other members refused because they had already paid enough to the Taiwanese tour operator.
However, he said the Vietnamese agency still treated them as members who had paid the extra money.
According to Paul, the Taiwanese travel agency misled its customers about travel times to Phu Quoc. Before the trip, they did not inform the groups of the risk of being refused service by the Vietnamese tour operator.
When they arrived at Phu Quoc airport, no vehicles or hotels were waiting for them.
After the intervention of Phu Quoc authorities and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, the Taiwanese company was ordered to make full payment by February 26 and the Vietnamese company was ordered to continue welcoming tourists.
They returned home on February 14 as planned.
Following the incident, experts advised Vietnamese tour operators to put in place professional processes, including establishing contracts, communication channels with partners, cooperating with authorities and controlling risks so as not to put in a passive position.
