A partnership the Tourism Administration had with Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien, a former beauty pageant winner, as tourism ambassador for Taiwan in Vietnam has been canceled after she was accused of involvement in a crime, the agency said yesterday.
The Tourism Administration has been recruiting tourism ambassadors in countries that are key sources of international tourists, including Japanese actors Takuya Kimura, Masami Nagasawa, Haruna Kawaguchi and Satoshi Tsumabuki, as well as Super Junior member Kyuhyun in South Korea.
Last year, Nguyen was chosen as Taiwan’s first tourism ambassador in Vietnam. As model and 2021’s Miss Grand International, Nguyen helped boost interest in Taiwan as a travel destination with commercials she shot for the agency.
Photo: CNA
The Tourism Administration announced the choice at the Taiwan-Vietnam Tourism Conference in Taichung last year.
However, Nguyen in March was accused of selling counterfeit goods and deceiving consumers, and was fined in April.
She was arrested by Vietnamese police last month.
The agency said that it terminated the partnership as soon as it learned that she was fined for being involved in a crime, adding that what happened was “regrettable.”
As the previous contract period is to end next month, the agency said that it has budgeted NT$14.85 million (US$502,793) to retain a highly influential Vietnamese celebrity as a tourism ambassador.
Tourism Administration data showed that 382,000 Vietnamese visited Taiwan on tourist visas in 2023, but the number fell to 370,000 last year.
From January to March, the number was 111,000, an increase compared with the same period in the previous two years, the data showed.
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