Dich Long cave in Ninh Binh (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has asked the northern province of Ninh Binh to organise an event in replacement of the opening ceremony of the National Tourism Year 2020 amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The province was asked to hold an alternative event to launch the National Tourism Year as soon as Vietnam announces victory over the pandemic and to release tourism promotion programmes from the aviation and tourism sectors.
The Ninh Binh Provincial People’s Committee has been requested to direct the local Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to carry out the event and coordinate with the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) to organise associated activities.
According to the VNAT, Vietnam can post an 80 percent decline in the number of foreign visitors this year if the COVID-19 pandemic is not brought under control by the end of the year.
If the pandemic is controlled by June, the number of foreign visitors could fall by 70 percent to just 5.5 million.
It said that following the 33 percent growth posted in January, the number of foreign arrivals fell by 22 percent in February and 68 percent in March./.
