A photo of a Western tourist meditating for money on a sidewalk on Phu Quoc has forced local officials to speak out against the action.
Tuoi Tre reports that Tran Chi Dung, the tourism chief of Kien Giang province, which covers the island, responded to the photo by reaffirming that begging on the street is not allowed in Vietnam.
"No exception was to be made for foreign street beggars in Vietnam no matter how polite they appeared to be," Dung told the news source.
The photo, which recently went viral on Facebook, shows a young woman meditating in front of a sign which says "meditate for luck, need money" in Vietnamese. This practice is called "beg-packing," short for begging backpackers.
Dung shared with Tuoi Tre that more "beg-packers" have appeared in Vietnam recently, though there are no precise figures. "The problem is [foreign beg-packers] appear to be very polite in comparison with Vietnamese beggars," he said. "They play music, sing, perform magic tricks or, in the recent case, meditate, to ask for money so it does not annoy others."
Meanwhile Pham Van Nghiep, deputy chairman of Phu Quoc, said local authorities have received reports of similar activities on the island recently, usually involving visitors who claim to have run out of money during their vacation.
"Beg-packing" may be a fairly new phenomenon in Vietnam, but nearby neighbor Thailand has been dealing with the problem for much longer. Last month, in response to numerous reports of foreign visitors begging on the streets of Bangkok, Thai authorities ruled that visitors entering the country may be required to prove that they have at at least THB20,000 (US$748) in cash on them before being allowed in, the Chiang Rai Times reports.
Also last month, Coconuts Bangkok shared viral photographs of a foreign couple begging on the streets of Chiang Mai with their young daughter in tow. The news source shares that both locals and expats were outraged over the photos.
[Photo via Tuoi Tre]
