Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh is one of the top destinations chosen by many foreign tourists. (Photo: VNA) Almost two years since borders closed, Vietnam's tourism sector is ready to fully open, with no restrictions on flight frequency or destinations.
But tour companies face stiff competition from other destinations in the region who are well prepared and may have the advantage.
Gloria Bui, Director of Asia Exotica Vietnam, told Vietnam News her company is rapidly recruiting staff and expanding offices, preparing new tourism products as well as re-establishing contact with partners.
"The most important thing is to train staff and send product information to customers," she said.
She also said that Asia Exotica Vietnam decided to reopen soon and invest in people from the beginning, although many local inbound travel companies are still very hesitant.
"I think it is completely reasonable to fully open the doors to tourism and lift restrictions related to the pandemic," she added.
"We prioritise investment to expand from products and services to marketing to adapt to the new situation. Also, we are willing to hire more staff than needed to make sure the company is ready for the upcoming orders. This also creates jobs and during this time and we can focus on training the employees carefully,”
Vietravel has also prepared plans to welcome international tourists in 2022. It has completed product sets in accordance with the requirements of the pilot programme to welcome international tourists and the demand of customers from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, America and Europe. The company is strengthening marketing campaigns to partners and customers in these markets.
“In the new normal situation, we have to be more flexible and innovative,” the company’s representative said, adding how they are focusing on increasing safety by applying safety standards and procedures suitable for each destination, and strengthening search, survey and launch of new product sets.
Positive Signs
Gloria Bui said that right after the announcement of the full opening, there were a lot of pre-booked tours for this summer and autumn.
Currently, the top destinations chosen by Asia Exotica Vietnam’s customers are Ha Long, Hoi An, and Hanoi, followed by Hue, Ho Chi Minh City and Phu Quoc.
“There are a lot of early orders, for April and May, when Vietnam has just reopened. We are very excited about this and looking forward to welcoming tourists back soon,” she said.
Oxalis Adventure, the only company in Vietnam licenced to conduct an expedition tour to Son Doong cave, Quang Binh province said that Son Doong tours in 2022 have been fully booked.
From mid-January 2022, the tour company has continued to open the reservation system for Son Doong tours departing in 2023. Currently, the tour has been booked for nearly 15 per cent, of which the majority are foreigners.
Other tours of Oxalis such as Tu Lan, Hang Va, Hang En, Hang Tien have reached 80 percent of the booking rate until May 2022.
In the first two months of 2022, international visitors to Vietnam were estimated at 49,200 arrivals, up 71.7 percent over the same period last year. Among them, visitors arriving by air accounted for 87.8 percent of international arrivals to Vietnam.
Currently, the entire tourism sector is preparing necessary conditions to fully open tourism activities from March 15.
This year, the tourism sector has set a target of serving 65 million visitors, including 5 million foreigners, and earning 440 trillion VND (nearly 19.3 billion USD) in revenue./.
VNA
