Vietnam officially resumes tourism activities

Quang Ninh (VNA) – The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST) and the People’s Committee of Quang Ninh province, home to UNESCO-recognised Ha Long Bay, on March 22 held a ceremony to officially announce Vietnam’s tourism reopening.

MoCST Deputy Minister Hoang Dao Cuong said to make the tourism reopening effective, enterprises should coordinate to renew their products and offer new ones satisfying clients’ demand that is changing after the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also suggested businesses focus on such products as luxury leisure tourism, eco-tourism, community-based tourism, adventure tourism, sports tourism and medical tourism, in order to achieve the target of welcoming over 5 million international visitors this year and create momentum for the coming years.

Regarding markets, he said attention should be paid to those showing quick, strong, sustainable recovery like Germany, Spain, the UK, France, Australia, the US, India, the Middle East and others near Southeast Asia.

Apart from restoring international flights and frequency, carriers need to open more air routes to major markets, he said, asking travel firms and airlines step up coordination in building quality tour packages and provide updates on immigration regulations and pandemic prevention and control measures for passengers.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Tuong Van expressed his hope that the MoCST, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and airlines will soon implement tourism promotion programmes in key markets.

Quang Ninh and other localities are ready to join such programmes, contributing to promoting the land and people of Vietnam to international friends, he affirmed.

The northern province is striving to serve over 10 million holidaymakers this year, of whom 1.5 million are foreigners, and earn some 21 trillion VND (918.13 million USD) from the sector.

At the end of the first quarter of this year, the locality welcomed around 2 million tourists.

Other tourist localities like Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City also affirmed their efforts to boost the domestic tourism sector.

Within the framework of the event, the Quang Ninh province People’s Committee, Vietnam Airlines and Sun Group signed a cooperation agreement on tourism stimulation./.