Four Vietnamese women detained in the Taiwanese police station (Source: CNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi’s Department of Tourism on December 29said it revoked the international travel business licence granted to the Golden Travel Trade andTourism Company Limited, one of the two companies that signed Taiwan tourcontracts for 152 tourists who then went missing in Taiwan (China).
Hanoi-based Golden Travel Trade and Tourism Company Limited, and Twin BrightCompany Limited referred the 152 Vietnamese tourists, divided into four groups,to HCM City-based International Holidays Travel Company Limited.
Taiwanese company ETholiday asked the International Holidays Travel CompanyLimited to aid the tourists with their visa arrangements. When the touristsfailed to show up to their tour destinations, ETholiday sent a report topolice.
ETholiday said it received four groups totalling 153 Vietnamese travellers fromDecember 21 to December 23, but by December 23, 152 had disappeared from thegroups. The only one accounted for at the time was a 17-year-old boy.
Apart from revoking the company’s licence for nine months, the Hanoi Departmentof Tourism imposed 48.5 million VND fines on the Golden Travel Trade andTourism Company Limited, reasoning its violations in reporting mechanism,storing documents, making written tour contracts with tourists, using tourguides without registered licences, and managing its tourists.
For the Twin Bright Company Limited’s involvement, thedepartment transferred the case to Hanoi police for further investigation intoits legal representative Le Thanh Tung, who signed the contract with HCM City-basedInternational Holidays Travel Company Limited, but said he did not know thepurpose of the signing of the contract.
Twin Bright CompanyLimited’s registered business licence deals with advertisement and communications,not international travel activities.
Eleven out of the 152 Vietnamese tourists who went missing in Taiwanwere detained by the local authorities for investigation, according to theVietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei.
Threewere detained by police as they are accused of violating laws on Anti-HumanTrafficking, Immigration and Labour Code of Taiwan (China).
Based on information and recommendations from Taiwan, Vietnam’s Ministryof Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Security, and National Administration ofTourism have been working with Taiwanese agencies to investigate and addressthe case.
The foreign ministry has instructed the Vietnam Economic and CulturalOffice in Taipei to contact local competent authorities to seek fullinformation about these tourists and visit the detainees.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said tourism activities and the easedvisa policy for tourists in some countries and territories have been abused forthe purpose of illegal working. It doesn’t rule out the possibility that someorganisations and individuals have taken advantage of this policy to set uprings illegally sending Vietnamese overseas.
Such violations must be strictly punished in line with laws, theministry said.
Taiwanese authorities said that investigation into the case is underway.In the immediate future, Taiwan plans to stop granting group visas for theVietnamese company, which arranged itineraries for the missing tourists.-VNA
