One in Three Tourists in This Country Are Korean... Controversy Over 'Bribing for COVID-19 Tests'

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[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Among foreign tourists who visited Vietnam last month, Koreans were found to be the most numerous.

According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO) on the 3rd, out of approximately 486,000 foreign tourists who visited Vietnam in August, 173,000 were Koreans, making them the largest group. This means that one out of every three foreigners entering Vietnam was Korean. They were followed by Americans (139,000) and Cambodians (82,000).

However, the total number of foreign tourists visiting Vietnam this year has fallen significantly short of the target. According to statistics, the number of foreign tourists entering Vietnam up to last month was 1.44 million, which is only about 28% of this year's target of 5 million.

It is expected to be difficult to achieve the annual tourist attraction target during the remaining four months of the year. In response, the Vietnam Tourism Authority is reportedly continuously proposing measures to expand tourist attraction to the central government.

Meanwhile, recently at Vietnamese airports, there have been reports of Korean tourists suffering from fraud while going through departure procedures, sparking controversy.

According to a Yonhap News report on the 29th of last month, some Korean tourists submitted rapid antigen test negative certificates to board their flights but were rejected by local airlines. Airline staff said, "This is a testing method not recognized by the quarantine office at Incheon Airport," and advised them to look for flights departing the next day.

At this time, local brokers nearby approached these tourists, saying, "If you pay more money, we will get you a negative certificate so you can board the flight as scheduled," demanding testing fees and transportation costs. Eventually, due to their urgency, they had no choice but to pay the brokers and obtain negative certificates again from a nearby hospital before they could return to Korea. It is known that the brokers collected an amount six times the cost of the test during this process.

As such cases of damage continued, our side also took action. The Korean Embassy recently sent an official letter to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), pointing out that "there have been many cases where some Vietnamese airlines caused inconvenience to our citizens due to a lack of proper understanding of our government's guidelines." They also stated, "There have been many reports of excessive charges for COVID-19 testing and issuance of negative certificates," demanding immediate correction.

In response, CAAV reportedly replied to the embassy through Yonhap News, saying, "We have re-notified each airline of Korea's entry guidelines and urged caution."