What to do to not miss 'golden chance' of Vietnam's tourism

Hanoi (VNA) - The government’s official removal of the restriction on the frequency of international commercial flights after February 15 and the decision to reopen the entire tourism activities starting from March 15 are expected to create a chance for tourism to regain the recovery and development in the new context at an early date.

With such a chance, what Vietnam’s tourism should do to rise up again in the coming period after a long period of struggle against the COVID-19 was put under the microscope at a symposium “Safe and effective reopening: Golden chance of Vietnam’s tourism” held on February 18.

New policies to be implemented

In the roadmap on the total reopening of the tourism activities, firms are paying special attention to the resumption of foreign markets as well as the policy on visa in the new period.

Recent data analysis from the Google Destination Insights showed that the international search volume on Vietnam tourism starting from beginning of this year is strongly rising. That on Vietnam’s airlines also remains at a very high level, at a point of time seeing an increase of up to 425%.

That is why, in order to anticipate the chance, Director of the travel department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Quy Phuong said Vietnam will apply various measures such as applying electronic visa and unilaterally and bilaterally waiving visa. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security will report this matter to the government.

Besides, the requirement on the COVID-19 test result is further loosened, foreign tourists will enjoy conditions similar to those applied on domestic ones, Phuong said.

The official also addressed questions on changes and differences in provisions on the roadmap on opening tourism from the pilot programmes. In the immediate future, localities throughout the country will open their doors to tourists, on the basis of the requirements on the pandemic fight worked out by the Ministry of Health.

He further said that all the border gates are now ready to admit entries, not only at airports but also at land and sea border gates, the Border Guards Command also supports the decision on opening the border gates.

To not miss “golden chance”

Representing firms, Lux Group founder and CEO Pham Ha held that Vietnam was late in opening the door for tourism compared to other countries in the region, and that is why connectivity is a must and attention should be focused on concrete markets.

In his opinion, if the door is opened in March, firms can welcome many foreign tourists in April or June, mostly from Europe and Australia as they have a habit of travelling in the season. Many customers of Lux Group who have repeatedly delayed or cancelled their tours because of the pandemic have re-booked services following the information on the Vietnamese government’s decision on the full opening of tourism starting from March 15.

Whether this can become a “golden chance” depends on the commitments by the government and local administrations as well as the connectivity to each concrete market, Ha said.

Meanwhile, Director of the tourism markets department Dinh Ngoc Duc said in the time to come, his office will focus promotion in traditional markets such as Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, Europe, etc., especially those that recognise vaccine passports.

For her part, F5 Travel CEO Hoan Thi Lien proposed attention should be focus tourism popularisation, arguing that Vietnam’s tourism has not defined its characteristic values. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and mass media should work out concrete popularisation measures aimed specifically at each foreign market, she said.

Director of the hotel department Vu Van Thanh held that the two years of stagnation have downgraded the facilities and made the workforce become scarce. However, firms should not be over-worried about this but prepare plans in advance, while state management should support firms and intensify assistance to localities in building standard programmes, thus ensuring the quality, he stressed./.