Vietnamese can’t help shopping until they drop

by Di Li

During a five-day tour to Thailand, Nguyen Thuy Mai spent US$800 on buying clothes and cosmetics, nearly three times the price of her trip. Although this is the second time Mai has visited Thailand, she still spent most of her time shopping. "Clothes made in Thailand are not so expensive, especially during the sale season, and there is a huge variety of clothing," says Mai.

Mai, like many Vietnamese people, has become addicted to shopping whenever she goes abroad. Instead of sightseeing, or visiting temples, Vietnamese increasingly opt to shop. Shopping as a pastime, rather than a necessity, is gaining favour amongst the Vietnamese. For many, better quality is the reason why they decide to buy goods abroad.

Khachonsak, a Thai tourist guide, said the majority of Vietnamese tourists pay little attention to food and sight seeing, spending the most of their time and money on shopping. He said that he didn’t have to introduce much Thai culture or history to Vietnamese tourists, just answer their questions and take them shopping. "When I was studying at vocational school, my teacher told us that there are three main kinds of tourists in Thailand. Chinese people like trying Thai food and European holidaymakers are attracted to bars, clubs and sports. What about Vietnamese tourists? They are only interested in shopping. Eating and sightseeing are not important for them," he says. From his own experience, Khachonsak came to the conclusion that for Thai tourist guides who are trained to serve Vietnamese tourists, satisfying guests’ shopping needs is their most important task. A tourist guide will do his utmost to to help Vietnamese tourists spend all of their money on shopping and come home with a huge volume of goods.

My aunt and her daughter spent VND60 million ($3,500) on shopping during their trip to China, while the trip only cost them about US$500.

During my recent trip to Hong Kong, I met the director of a company from Sai Gon who was standing in front of his hotel looking like he had been robbed. When I asked him what had happened, he just looked at vehicles on the roads and said: "Poor me, I have not bought anything." Realising that it was his last day in Hong Kong, he cancelled plans to go sightseeing and started shopping.

According to world market analysts, Viet Nam was amongst nations that like shopping the most, and is in the top ten countries purchasing advertised goods.

Becoming addicted to shopping, Vietnamese spend a huge sum of money on buying abroad, from costly goods such as gold, diamonds, laptops and watches to cheap ones, including toothbrushes, pots and perfumed soap.

Vietnamese tourists have become attractive customers for Thai and Chinese tourist guides, as well as businesses. The shopping habits of Vietnamese tourists has helped to increase not only the host countries’ turnover but also local tourist guides’ incomes. Many shops in China, Thailand, Singapore and a number of European countries employ a Vietnamese shop assistant to serve their Vietnamese guests.

My trip to Thailand was not easy to forget. Leaving a chocolate shop in the airport, a woman in my tour group showed us ten chocolate boxes worth more than $100, she wondered what she would do with them when she got home as her family members don’t eat sweets, and chocolates are available in supermarkets in Viet Nam. Upon hearing her, I looked down at my lap, where I also had several chocolate bars from the same gourmet shop.