TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Tourism Administration has ended its partnership with beauty pageant winner Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien as its tourism envoy in Vietnam, following her arrest in a high-profile advertising scandal.
The 26-year-old was appointed as Taiwan’s first tourism ambassador for Vietnam in October 2024, leveraging her popularity as a vlogger and Miss Grand International 2021 winner. The partnership was initially hailed as a success, with Nguyen’s campaigns raising the nation’s visibility in Vietnam, per Travel and Tour World.
Vietnam is a key tourism market with 370,548 Vietnamese visiting Taiwan last year, representing a recovery of 92% from pre-COVID-19 numbers. A total of 111,000 Vietnamese have arrived in the first quarter of this year, according to VnExpress.
However, the collaboration with Nguyen unraveled after she was implicated in the misleading promotion of Kera Supergreens Gummies, a fiber supplement she promoted alongside other influencers. On her Facebook page, which has 2.7 million followers, Nguyen claimed that each gummy contained “a dish’s worth of vegetables.”
Independent testing, however, revealed that a box of 30 gummies contained far less fiber than advertised. Vietnamese authorities launched an investigation, arresting two co-promoters and temporarily banning Nguyen from leaving the country between March and May. In April, she was fined for failing to disclose her paid partnership and charged with fraud.
Chou Hsin-yi (周欣毅), director of the Tourism Administration's office in Ho Chi Minh City, was reported as saying by VnExpress that Nguyen’s contract would not be renewed and that no promotional activities featuring her had been organized since March. “While we recognize that she fulfilled her responsibilities well over the past year, this recent incident has damaged the image and efforts she previously built.”
The tourism bureau described the termination as “regrettable” but necessary, and has set aside NT$14.85 million (US$502,793) to recruit a new Vietnamese celebrity influencer.
The agency’s strategy of partnering with prominent figures from key markets, including Japanese and South Korean celebrities, remains unchanged, while officials say they will be more cautious in vetting future ambassadors.