Buzz
Each bowl of plain noodles without meat in the public area of Noi Bai Airport will now be priced at no more than 20,000 Vietnamese dong. In the international zone, the ceiling price is set at 3 USD.
With this result, for the first time, Noi Bai International Airport applies price ceilings for some common goods and services in three areas: public, domestic quarantine zone, and international quarantine zone. The price for a 0.5-liter bottle of purified water in the public area should not exceed 15,000 Vietnamese dong.
Previously, in this area, some units listed the price at 18,000 Vietnamese dong per bottle. For similar products, the price in the domestic quarantine zone should not exceed 20,000 Vietnamese dong. In the international quarantine zone, the selling price for a bottle of water should not exceed 2 USD in restaurants and 1 USD in other areas (excluding service charges).
Instant noodles, pho, vermicelli, and sandwiches also fall under the price ceiling. If these dishes do not include additional food, the price should not exceed 20,000 Vietnamese dong per bowl or per piece. However, if supplemented with chicken, sausages, etc., the price should not exceed 50,000 Vietnamese dong, except for cases of adding premium food or imported items upon request. In the international quarantine zone, the price ceiling for an instant noodle bowl, pho, etc., without additional food is 3 USD.
Following Noi Bai Airport's request for a price review on June 28, some businesses have implemented price reductions for essential items. For example, Trang Hien Company has reduced the prices of Hanoi beer and some common types of cakes and candies; Phuong Thao Company has lowered the prices of some souvenir items; Noi Bai Investment and Trading Company has adjusted the prices of dried fruits and candies; Thang Long Aviation Services Company has reduced prices for various items from soft drinks to instant noodles.
Most stores nowadays have fairly similar listed prices, except for some high-end restaurants such as Sky Cafe, Lucky Restaurant, International Restaurant, and Asian-European Restaurant. Units with higher prices than the general market must provide a clear explanation.
Noi Bai International Airport announces that the regulations on price ceilings are effective from August 15. According to a representative of Noi Bai International Airport, alongside price reductions, the quality of service and products at the airport has started to see positive changes. In some stores, the price of a bowl of shrimp noodles remains the same, but the retailer has added more meat.
In addition to the listed price ceiling, another new point from this review is that when selling goods and services, businesses must issue invoices or receipts when requested by customers. This measure aims to prevent unclear pricing leading to complaints and grievances. At visible locations at the airport, managers display signs with clearly stated hotline numbers for customers to report incidents immediately.
The issue of prices and quality at Noi Bai Airport has been heating up recent forums. In June and August, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Transport spoke out, demanding the resolution of the 'price chaos' at the airport and improvement in service quality.
Surveying customer opinions on the Civil Aviation Authority's website reveals that over 47.7% of survey participants are dissatisfied with the aviation industry's service, 39.8% are very satisfied, and the satisfaction level is 12.5%. Recently, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang also demanded the Vietnam Airport Corporation to review all services and layout at Terminal 1.
On the retail side, they believe that doing business at the airport is unique and monopolistic, so prices cannot be uniform with those outside. To bring goods into the airport, sellers have to incur various expenses such as transportation, taxes, and more.
High rental costs are also one of the reasons that make prices of goods here more expensive than outside. In the domestic quarantine zone, the rental price for a counter under 5m2 is 10.4 million Vietnamese dong per month, and for 15 to 20 square meters, the counter rental is 21.9 million Vietnamese dong.
In the international quarantine zone, a store with an area of 5 to 10m2 has a rental price of 840 USD, equivalent to 84 to 168 USD per square meter per month. The wider the store, the cheaper the rent, with prices as low as 45 USD per square meter for areas over 20m2.
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Source: Travel Handbook Mytour – Via: VnExpress
MytourAugust 23, 2013
