Vietnamplus

The tourism sector served 12.5 million domestic visitors in May, pushing the total number of the group to over 50.5 million in the first five months.

A tourism promotion conference was held in Hanoi on April 13 spotlighting enticing activities for tourists on their journeys across the four provinces of Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh.

According to the Vietnam Tourism Association, a year after Vietnam’s economy reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, about 90% of hotels and accommodation providers and 70% of food service establishments and transport companies have resumed operations.

The subsidy scheme for domestic tourists might be reduced to 500,000 rooms from 1.5 million after the Thai cabinet this week cut the proposed budget of 8.7 billion baht (nearly 250 million USD) by half, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

Domestic tourism is strongly bouncing back, recording more than 100 million visitors so far this year, higher than all forecasts and up 1.5 times compared to the yearly target of 60 million.

Outbound tourism has become increasingly popular among Vietnamese, however, the tourism industry has been slow to embrace this new phenomenon.

Ho Chi Minh City received hundreds of thousands of visitors during the National Day holidays, according to the municipal Department of Tourism.

The domestic search volume for tourism in July surged by nearly 8 folds year-on-year, and by 3 times compared to the beginning of March 2022 when the country started to re-open tourism.

Based on recent survey findings, travel companies in Vietnam have a strong basis to develop new products that match tourists’ demand in the coming period of recovery.

In the past two years, the impact of COVID-19 has hit listed tourism companies’ activities hard, leading to persistent losses and some stocks being given a warning status, and even risk being delisted. However as many businesses turn to restructuring operations, their results have become more positive.

Ninety percent of rooms in high-end resorts in Sa Pa, in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, and Phu Quoc Island off the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang have been booked for the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays. Most tourism companies in localities that are popular with tourists have resumed operations.

Hanoi’s tourism has seen positive signs after COVID-19 outbreaks have taken its toll on the sector for more than two years, as new products built in the recent past have given a boost to the domestic tourism market since late 2021.

The number of international tourists to Vietnam in December 2021 rose by 14.2 percent compared to that of the previous month as the country is piloting the welcome of foreign visitors and international commercial flights are being resumed.

From November, localities that have controlled the Covid-19 pandemic will start welcoming back domestic holiday-makers.

A conference debating solutions and plans for resuming domestic tourism activities was held on October 5 by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

A programme on tourism recovery nationwide and overcoming COVID-19 consequences has been launched with an aim to flexibly adapt to the pandemic for safe tourism activities, heading to the recovery of the sector amid the pandemic.

The government of Laos has instructed the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism to coordinate with localities nationwide to prepare for the reopening of its tourism under “new normal” conditions.

Many localities have started to ease restrictions on some tourism-related activities as COVID-19 is largely brought under control. However, the tourism industry will need a roadmap to return to the so-called “new normal”.

Domestic holiday-makers coming to the capital city in May numbered 115,000, a steep decrease of 55.3 percent year-on-year due to the impacts of COVID-19, according to the Hanoi Department of Tourism.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has downgraded its outlook for domestic tourism this year due to the economic downturn and a third wave of COVID-19.