Thanh Hoa market management takes action on the case of a 35,000 VND serving of vermicelli with grilled pork.

Controversy over 35,000 VND bun cha portion

According to information from a leader of the People's Committee of Sam Son City, after receiving the case of a tourist posting information on social media about a bun cha dish priced at 35k (35,000 VND/dish) causing controversy about "expensive, cheap", the functional units of Sam Son City quickly went to the relevant facility to verify.

Accordingly, on May 20, Market Management Team No. 2, Thanh Hoa Market Management Department, inspected and verified information at D.P. restaurant (Le Thanh Tong street, Sam Son city). Through actual verification, the authorities determined that the restaurant owner did not sell at a price higher than the listed price, and at the same time, this establishment had full business licenses and food safety certificates according to regulations.

The "35k" bun cha dish in Sam Son City caused controversy after a tourist took a photo and posted it on social media.

"After receiving the information, the leaders of Sam Son City also directed specialized units to conduct an inspection. The actual inspection process showed that the owner of the establishment had an agreement with the customer before selling and listed the price according to regulations. At the same time, the outside meal as the actual image posted by the tourist also had other dishes, not as simple as the image posted online," said Mr. Huynh, Captain of Market Management Team No. 2, Thanh Hoa Market Management Department.

However, the authorities also reminded the D.P. facility as well as other businesses in Sam Son City to list the correct price in numbers as prescribed. For example, listing in languages such as "35K" instead of "30,000 VND" is inappropriate.

In a quick exchange with Nguoi Dua Tin, Mr. Duc, owner of D.P. restaurant, said that before eating, the tourist and the restaurant owner had an agreement with the customer that the 35,000 VND noodle dish included noodles, grilled pork, pickled vegetables, raw vegetables, dipping sauce, and guava leaf water. However, the photo the customer took of only noodles with grilled pork and a bowl of dipping sauce could be misleading and lack objectivity.

Images of services listed at D.P. restaurant (Sam Son city).

Sharing his opinion on the above incident, Mr. Nguyen Huu Duoc, owner of Bay Hoa restaurant (Bac Son ward, Sam Son city), who has been doing business in Sam Son city for many years, said that currently, restaurants in Sam Son city strictly follow the city's regulations, especially the posting and announcement of prices to tourists before performing the service. Meanwhile, in reality, many tourists just compare prices in their hometown and in tourist areas, which is not satisfactory, because clearly the costs of investing in building facilities, materials, and labor in tourist areas are different," said Mr. Duoc.

Speaking to Nguoi Dua Tin, Lawyer Le Thien, Director of Khang Loi Law Company Limited, said that posting images is a personal right of each person. However, posting images as well as posting information on the Internet that is not true to reality, one-sided, and harms the interests of individuals and organizations can be handled according to the Law on Cyber Security, which took effect from January 1, 2019.

Accordingly, the Law on Cyber Security consists of 7 chapters and 43 articles regulating activities to protect national security and ensure social order and safety in cyberspace; and the responsibilities of relevant agencies, organizations and individuals. The Law clearly states that cyber security is the assurance that activities in cyberspace do not harm national security, social order and safety, and the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals.

The numbers speak for themselves.

Over the years, with many efforts, the authorities at all levels as well as the people of Sam Son City have turned this city into the locomotive of Thanh Hoa tourism, as well as a bright spot in the national tourism picture.

In 2022, Sam Son City, with many efforts, "awakened" when welcoming more than 7 million visitors with revenue of more than 14,000 billion VND.

To achieve that result, in recent years, Sam Son City has implemented many long-term plans, in which the main focus is on improving infrastructure and culture to serve tourists when they come to this coastal city.

Sam Son has always welcomed a record number of visitors in recent years.

Accordingly, in terms of service culture, Sam Son City actively promoted and trained, and with internal efforts, local people have put the image of Sam Son tourism as "ripping off" and fragmented from the past into the past, giving way to a friendly and attractive Sam Son for tourists.

"For many years, every summer, I take my whole family to Sam Son beach. Here there is a beautiful beach, white sand, big waves, fresh seafood and relatively clean and spacious facilities. Most importantly, the situation of overcharging and oppressing customers no longer appears," said Mr. Vu Hoang Hai, a tourist from Hanoi .

Sam Son City's infrastructure has been improved.

In parallel, over the past 5 years, Sam Son City has made efforts to attract many "eagles to nest", notably large projects such as the resort and luxury golf course project of FLC Group, the mega project of Sun Group with an investment capital of up to more than 1 billion USD (about 23,000 billion VND)... From there, providing a variety of services for tourists, contributing to fundamentally changing the face of this coastal city.

In a quick exchange with Nguoi Dua Tin, a leader of the People's Committee of Sam Son City said that when there is information reflecting from tourists, they will quickly verify and resolve the matter. The city's viewpoint is to always listen and strictly handle price gouging and inappropriate behavior towards tourists, affecting the image of Sam Son tourism. At the same time, to receive information reflecting from tourists, the city publishes hotline information at business locations to promptly handle arising problems.

Hotline information and code of conduct are disseminated to residents and tourists by Sam Son City.

Regarding the recent incident of the 35,000 VND bun cha dish, after receiving feedback from tourists, the city conducted a fact-finding exercise, but the owner of the establishment complied with all regulations. However, due to the nature of the tourist season, the number of visitors was very large, so the communication between the two sides may not have been clear. This is also a lesson for businesses to pay attention to in order to improve.

"Over the years, the Sam Son City government and local people have actively joined hands to build the image of a friendly, modern coastal city and have initially attracted many tourists and investors to come to Sam Son for vacation and investment. The situation of oppression and overcharging has almost disappeared. However, during the operation process, there were inevitably controversies and shortcomings. Therefore, this is also a lesson for Sam Son to improve in the future," said the leader of Sam Son City.

According to information from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thanh Hoa province, during the 5-day holiday (April 29 to May 3, 2023), Thanh Hoa province welcomed nearly 1.2 million visitors, an increase of 33% over the same period and ranked first in the country in terms of the number of visitors received during this time. At the same time, the large number of visitors also helped the total tourism revenue of Thanh Hoa province during the holiday reach nearly 2,900 billion VND, an increase of more than 48% over the same period in 2022.

Accordingly, sea tourism continues to be the leading tourist attraction, of which the most impressive is still Sam Son City. In just 5 days of the holiday, this city with the smallest area in the country welcomed and served more than 850,000 tourists, bringing in revenue of nearly 1,760 billion VND.

Viet Phuong

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/quan-ly-thi-truong-thanh-hoa-vao-cuoc-vu-suat-bun-cha-gia-35000-dong-a608865.html