Thua Thien-Hue makes efforts to reboot tourism

Foreign tourists enjoy Xich lo (cyclo) tours around Dai Noi (Imperial City) in Thua Thien-Hue province. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The People’s Committee of the central province of Thua Thien-Hue has issued a decision approving a project on tourism recovery and stimulation between 2020-2021, with a range of urgent tasks and solutions. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has a major impact on tourism in Vietnam, and Thua Thien-Hue province is no exception. Stimulus packages are expected to help remove difficulties facing the tourism sector. 

Short-term tasks and solutions 

From May until the end of this year, the province will mainly focus on the domestic market, while gradually accessing nearby and safe foreign markets in the year-end months. 

The province will join hands with Da Nang city and Quang Nam province, also in the central region, to launch tourism programmes. 

As part of the tourism stimulus project, ticket prices to relic sites under the management of the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre have been halved from May 8 to July 31. Meanwhile, more free-of-charge performances will be staged at Dai Noi (Imperial Citadel) from mid-July until the end of this year. 

The province has also encouraged local lodging facilities, travel companies and tourist destinations to offer promotional programmes, while strengthening connectivity between service suppliers in the locality in order to create attractive tourism packages. 

Apart from improving the quality of the existing products, Thua Thien-Hue has paid attention to building and developing new products, with priority given to MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference, and Event), eco-tourism, and community-based tourism. 

MICE tourists participate in team-building activities (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Hue Festival 2020, VnExpress Marathon 2020, and other culinary and cultural festivals are also expected to help lure visitors to the locality. 

Stepping up communication work 

Thua Thien-Hue will intensify communication work using the mass media and social media to promote itself as a safe and friendly destination, and enhanced public-private partnership in promotion activities. 

Focus will be put on strategic products and services, such as Hue – the capital city of cuisines, Hue – the capital city of Ao Dai, Hue Festival 2020, and medical, eco and community-based tourism. 

The province has mapped out promotional programmes and plans in foreign markets like Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, which will be rolled out in line with the latest COVID-19 developments. 

The central province is expected to become a cultural, tourism and health care centre in Southeast Asia by 2030, and a festival city of Asia by 2045.

Thua Thien-Hue is also set to become one of the country’s hubs in the fields of science, technology, multidisciplinary education and training, and national defence-security.

During the 2021 -2025 period, Thua Thien-Hue will work to earn the status of a centrally-run city and complete the expansion of Hue city before 2022 as planned.

Ensuring safety for tourists  

Thua Thien-Hue will continue with COVID-19 prevention and control measures, thus ensuring safety for holiday-makers and the community, while encouraging local tourism service suppliers to join hands in creating a clean and environmentally friendly environment.

 Health declaration

Visitors to the province are required to make medical declarations and lodging facilities must register guests as part of epidemic prevention and control work.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the suspension of many tourism promotion plans in Thua Thien-Hue, pushed a number of travel companies to the brink of bankruptcy, and caused thousands of layoffs in the sector. 

The provincial tourism sector lost about 2.25 trillion VND (97.4 million USD) so far this year, as the number of holidaymakers dropped 55 percent year-on-year. 

Difficulties are predicted to last longer, causing a headache for tourism of Vietnam, the central region and Thua Thien-Hue province. /.