Previously, on May 17, a clip circulated on social networking forums recording images of a foreign man in a topless state, wearing shorts, climbing onto the roof of a car parked close to the sidewalk and continuously trampling, smashing, and even lying sprawled on the roof of the car... in front of people.
At the time of the incident, this person was showing signs of psychosis, unable to control his behavior.
Worryingly, this is not the first case involving foreigners causing trouble in Da Nang recently. Previously, there were fights in bars, drug use at accommodation establishments, causing chaos in residential areas...
Similar incidents have also occurred in other localities with a large number of international tourists across the country in recent times.
Each case may be unique, but if it appears continuously, it shows that management pressure is increasing in international tourist areas.
However, it should be made clear that we cannot see the foreign community in Da Nang and many other tourist cities with prejudice just because of a few isolated cases – such as the case of a man climbing onto the roof of a car to smash things.
Because most international tourists coming to Da Nang and Vietnam are civilized, friendly and make an important contribution to the development of city and country tourism.
Furthermore, a tourist city that wants to integrate must be open, first of all from a perspective.
But being open does not mean being lenient in management, especially in actions that affect public order and civilization.
In fact, many tourist neighborhoods are currently operating with a very different pace of life compared to the rest of the city. Dense short-term accommodation activities, bars open overnight, continuous inflows and outflows, and more and more long-term international residents.
So if the management apparatus still maintains the old approach, in the style of handling new cases or not keeping up with the pace of movement, the risk of complicated problems arising is unavoidable.
Cases of foreign tourists causing riots, smashing things or fighting on the streets, if repeated many times, will directly affect the image of Da Nang tourism and the whole country.
Because tourism not only sells beautiful scenery, but also sells the feeling of safety and civilization.
When clips of Western street chaos, property destruction or drug use continuously spread on social networks, tourists will start to have a psychology of hesitation, and local people will also feel insecure right in the tourist space of their city.
More dangerously, if management is not tight enough, Vietnam's tourist cities may gradually be associated with the image of a vibrant but uncontrolled tourist city, and once that brand is formed, it is very difficult to pull it back.
Da Nang and many other localities, if they want to become a global destination, must show the management capacity of a mature, open, friendly but also disciplined and principled international city.
