Tourists cancelling trips to Vietnam

Shanghai tourists have begun to cancel trips to Vietnam due to the recent anti-China protests and riots in the Southeast Asian country.

Vietnamese demonstrators have been protesting against China over a contested area of the South China Sea. In some cases, rioters have trashed and set fire to Chinese factories.

Spring Airlines has canceled nine tourist flights to Vietnam after 1,500 tourists who had booked group tours to the country asked to cancel their trips, said Zhang Wuan, a spokesperson for Spring Airlines and Shanghai Spring International Travel Service.

Currently no one is inquiring about trips to Vietnam, Zhang told the Global Times. The airline is still operating flights to the country to take Chinese citizens back to China.

Shanghai Spring International Travel Service will give the tourists full refunds, causing the travel agency to take a loss of 5 million yuan ($80 million), Zhang said.

More than 90 percent of the 40 tourists who have booked trips to Vietnam have cancelled their trips, said Zhou Yingfeng, general manager of the Overseas Travel Center of Shanghai China International Travel Service.

Zhou said they will remind their other clients about the potential dangers and persuade them not to go to Vietnam.

China Eastern Airlines announced Sunday that passengers who bought tickets to Vietnam on or before last Thursday can receive a free refund and change of flight date on or before June 30.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an advisory on its website Wednesday that cautioned Chinese citizens to be wary about traveling to Vietnam due to the recent demonstrations. The administration also asked tourists heading to Vietnam to take precautions to protect their safety.

On Saturday, the ministry upgraded its notice and advised Chinese tourist against going to Vietnam because the tourism and investment environment has deteriorated as protests have escalated.

China has suspended some of the bilateral communication plans with Vietnam and will take further measures as the situation develops, Hong Lei, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said Sunday at a press conference.

Two people have died and hundreds have been injured in riots that have occurred primarily in Ha Tinh and Binh Duong provinces in Vietnam. The riots severely damaged Chinese, South Korean and Singaporean enterprises, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, said Friday at a press conference.

China sent two planes around 5 am Friday to transport 16 Chinese people who were seriously injured in the riot to Chengdu, Sichuan Province. By Saturday afternoon, it had helped more than 3,000 Chinese citizens return home, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website.