Foreign tourists (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA)- The hospitality sector in Vietnam this year will facelosses due to the novel coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak, researcher Savillshas said.
Mauro Gasparotti, director of Savills Hotels APAC, said: “Vietnam is noexception as the country is already experiencing the negative consequencescaused by this global pandemic.”
According to Gasparotti, hotels have been receiving a handful ofcancellation requests over the last few weeks by not only group and MICE guestsbut also independent travellers.
“The emergence of the new strain of coronavirus has caused three keyinfluences on Vietnamese tourism, all of which will possiblyhurt Vietnam hospitality this year,” he said.
The first and most obvious impact will be the expected drop in Chinesetravellers who made up the largest proportion of foreign tourists to Vietnam in2019, accounting for over 30 percent, he said.
Coastal destinations will face the same issue with destinations like NhaTrang – Khanh Hoa expected to be particularly affected as China is usuallythe biggest source of arrivals, accounting for more than 70 percent of foreignvisitors to the province, according to Khanh Hoa Department of Tourism.
Main cities like Hanoi and HCM City would also be affected by the slowdown ofMICE and corporate travellers as a series of meetings, conferences and overseastrips have been postponed or cancelled due to the ongoing spread ofnCov-2019.
The second impact of coronavirus to Vietnam, according to Gasparotti, is thesignificant expected decline in global travel demand to Asiancountries which will likely be perceived to be at higher risks ofcoronavirus compared to other destinations.
After a few years of significant growth in international arrivals to SoutheastAsia (more than 138 million international tourist arrivals in 2019 with animpressive compounded annual growth rate of 7.8 percent in the past nine years),a steep slowdown will be observed in the upcoming time.
Consequently, destinations like Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam will beexpecting a temporary slowdown in travellers from Europe, Australia, the US andothers where leisure groups are more likely to cancel or postpone theirtrips due to the fear of outbreaks.
The third impact would be on local demand as people are now more hesitantto travel to crowded places like airports, trains and bus stationsand even restaurants and entertainment places to avoid contagiousinfections.
The nCoV outbreak in China has already been causing large shocks to globaltravel and tourism and is expected to further impact the business.The industry has always been notoriously vulnerable to negative events.
A global pandemic has a large impact on overall global demand aswell as tremendous influences on specific destinations in both the short andmedium term.
Vietnam has also started to respond by suspending all flights to and fromcoronavirus-hit areas in China.
Outbound restrictions have been placed on Chinese tourists by the Chinesegovernment to contain the spread of virus, causing a severe loss oftourists in several countries due to China’s status as the world's largestoutbound tourism market.
The virus outbreak has resulted in a wave of tour and room cancellationsnot only by Chinese tourists but also global travellers who had travel plans toAsia.
"That said, if the outbreak is contained both in Vietnam but alsoglobally, we are positive that a steady recovery in the second half of theyear and tourism industry will be once again a strong growing industry forVietnam. For hotel and resorts, especially the properties serving large numberof clients originating from affected areas, we strongly recommend to strictlyimplement safety procedures to protect the safety and health of both customersand staff," Gasparatti said./.
Mauro Gasparotti, director of Savills Hotels APAC, said: “Vietnam is noexception as the country is already experiencing the negative consequencescaused by this global pandemic.”
According to Gasparotti, hotels have been receiving a handful ofcancellation requests over the last few weeks by not only group and MICE guestsbut also independent travellers.
“The emergence of the new strain of coronavirus has caused three keyinfluences on Vietnamese tourism, all of which will possiblyhurt Vietnam hospitality this year,” he said.
The first and most obvious impact will be the expected drop in Chinesetravellers who made up the largest proportion of foreign tourists to Vietnam in2019, accounting for over 30 percent, he said.
Coastal destinations will face the same issue with destinations like NhaTrang – Khanh Hoa expected to be particularly affected as China is usuallythe biggest source of arrivals, accounting for more than 70 percent of foreignvisitors to the province, according to Khanh Hoa Department of Tourism.
Main cities like Hanoi and HCM City would also be affected by the slowdown ofMICE and corporate travellers as a series of meetings, conferences and overseastrips have been postponed or cancelled due to the ongoing spread ofnCov-2019.
The second impact of coronavirus to Vietnam, according to Gasparotti, is thesignificant expected decline in global travel demand to Asiancountries which will likely be perceived to be at higher risks ofcoronavirus compared to other destinations.
After a few years of significant growth in international arrivals to SoutheastAsia (more than 138 million international tourist arrivals in 2019 with animpressive compounded annual growth rate of 7.8 percent in the past nine years),a steep slowdown will be observed in the upcoming time.
Consequently, destinations like Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam will beexpecting a temporary slowdown in travellers from Europe, Australia, the US andothers where leisure groups are more likely to cancel or postpone theirtrips due to the fear of outbreaks.
The third impact would be on local demand as people are now more hesitantto travel to crowded places like airports, trains and bus stationsand even restaurants and entertainment places to avoid contagiousinfections.
The nCoV outbreak in China has already been causing large shocks to globaltravel and tourism and is expected to further impact the business.The industry has always been notoriously vulnerable to negative events.
A global pandemic has a large impact on overall global demand aswell as tremendous influences on specific destinations in both the short andmedium term.
Vietnam has also started to respond by suspending all flights to and fromcoronavirus-hit areas in China.
Outbound restrictions have been placed on Chinese tourists by the Chinesegovernment to contain the spread of virus, causing a severe loss oftourists in several countries due to China’s status as the world's largestoutbound tourism market.
The virus outbreak has resulted in a wave of tour and room cancellationsnot only by Chinese tourists but also global travellers who had travel plans toAsia.
"That said, if the outbreak is contained both in Vietnam but alsoglobally, we are positive that a steady recovery in the second half of theyear and tourism industry will be once again a strong growing industry forVietnam. For hotel and resorts, especially the properties serving large numberof clients originating from affected areas, we strongly recommend to strictlyimplement safety procedures to protect the safety and health of both customersand staff," Gasparatti said./.
VNA
