Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communication threatened to shut down any tourism website that refer to Da Nang’s coastline as “China Beach.”
By Thursday morning, several firms, including the Hanoi-based Asia Eyes Travel JSC, had amended their English-language descriptions of the destination from “Da Nang – China Beach” to “Da Nang – The white sandy beach.”
Many others had failed to heed the warning, including of the DH and Thang Long travel companies and a taxi service based in Da Nang, VnExpress reported.
The companies refused to comment on their websites’ language when contacted by VnExpress.
Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said he planned to send a statement to municipal and provincial tourism authorities, international tour operators, and hotels from three to five stars, demanding that they refer to Da Nang’s beaches by their Vietnamese names.
“To describe Da Nang’s beaches as “China Beach” is unacceptable,” Tuan said. “It creates a misunderstanding about some of Vietnam’s most beautiful beaches.”
Vice minister Do Quy Doan said the ministry planned to shut down Vietnamese websites that failed to make the necessary corrections, without providing a specific deadline.
Doan also expressed concern that foreign-owned websites have used the improper description, making the error more difficult to rectify.
Source: VNexpress
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