Authorities on the southern island of Phu Quoc are trying to persuade three Russian tourists not to beg.
The tourists came to beg on Ngo Quyen Street in Duong Dong District on January 28
Speaking to the local media on Sunday, the vice-chairman of Phu Quoc City People's Committee, Pham Van Nghiep, said that they have sent a team to persuade the three male tourists to stop begging on local streets as "it was presenting a bad image of the tourist city."
"The tourists came to beg on Ngo Quyen Street in Duong Dong District on January 28," the official said. "They held a cardboard with Vietnamese reading "Hello, we're from Russia. We've been travelling without money for the last five years. Please support our trips. Thank you".
Photos of the three tourists begging in Phu Quoc went viral on Facebook.
This is not the first time foreign tourists have been seen begging on Phu Quoc. In 2020, several foreign tourists also held up cardboard signs in Vietnamese asking for money to buy food and return to their countries. In 2027, a Russian woman was seen in meditation posture next to a pot and a sign that says she needed money.
Foreigners can stay on Phu Quoc for 30 days without a visa, a policy launched several years ago to boost tourism on the country’s biggest island.
