Many restaurants accused of charging high prices
On the afternoon of February 4, on tourism forums about Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa, many articles appeared accusing some restaurants in Nha Trang, Van Ninh, Ninh Hoa town of selling at high prices and poor quality.
In particular, the social networking site "Nha Trang - Review everything" spread the image of the bill dated February 3 of Aroma Beach restaurant (No. 8, Nguyen Thien Thuat Street, Nha Trang City) with "huge" high prices for many vegetable dishes.
According to author M.H, while surfing a foreign website, he came across a post warning about a restaurant charging high prices. Along with the bill and pictures of the restaurant. Many people were upset when the bill showed the price of grilled eggplant with scallion oil at nearly 1.9 million VND, stir-fried water spinach with garlic at 500,000 VND... The restaurant also charged an additional Tet surcharge of more than 4 million VND.
As soon as this information was spread, Nha Trang City People's Committee set up an inspection team and worked with the restaurant owner on February 5.
According to Mr. Ho Van Tam - representative of Aroma Beach restaurant, on the evening of February 3, a group of foreign guests came to order food for 15-20 people.The bill of more than 20 million VND that the customer posted online was a draft with an increased price, but in reality, the restaurant only received half of the money, about 10 million VND.The Tet surcharge of more than 4 million VND was for alcohol, cigarettes, beer and tea because the customers brought drinks to the restaurant and the two sides had negotiated from the beginning.
When the authorities inspected the restaurant, the price of a plate of grilled eggplant with scallion oil was listed at 189,000 VND, stir-fried water spinach with garlic was 199,000 VND...The prices listed on the dishes were handwritten and pasted.
Local authorities are determined to deal with it but cannot completely eliminate it.
It is worth mentioning that right after the information about Aroma Beach restaurant was denounced online and the authorities got involved, on the morning of February 5, the entire signboard of this restaurant was quietly removed by the owner. On social networking forums, it was also pointed out that this restaurant used to operate in Vinh Hoa ward and was accused of selling at high prices and was boycotted. However, it later changed its business location and continued to operate.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Mr. Nguyen Tan Tuan - Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee - affirmed that the locality's viewpoint is to strictly handle establishments that "rip off" tourists.
"The province has directed the Nha Trang City People's Committee and the tourism industry to coordinate and strictly handle this issue. Khanh Hoa has kept the 9 days of Tet without any problems. We must find out the cause to handle it appropriately to maintain the image of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa in the eyes of tourists. If the restaurant has violated the law before but continues to do so, we will handle it more seriously" - Mr. Tuan said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pham Minh Nhut - Permanent Vice President of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association - said that he was very upset to read this information spread on the internet. According to Mr. Nhut, these "ugly" images destroy the efforts of genuine tourism workers who are trying every day to build Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa as a safe, civilized, friendly and attractive destination for tourists.
On February 5, Mr. Nghiem Xuan Thanh - Secretary of Khanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee - said that on the morning of February 5, he had discussed with the provincial leaders to inspect and rectify immediately. Previously, on February 4, Nha Trang City had directed the functional forces to investigate and handle the matter promptly.
