The Director of the General Department of Tourism - Nguyen Trung Khanh - believes in the opportunities of Vietnam's tourism in the new year.
After 3 months, the Government issued Resolution 128 on safe, flexible adaptation and control of the Covid-19 epidemic, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued temporary guidance on the implementation of tourism activities in the region. In the new context, Vietnam's tourism is assessed to have shown signs of improvement. Director General of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Nguyen Trung Khanh, shared with VnExpress the activities of the industry and comments on Vietnam's tourism in the coming time.
- How do you evaluate the transformation of Vietnam's tourism after 3 months of "safe adaptation, flexibility, control of the Covid-19 epidemic"?
- Tourism is one of the earliest and hardest hit economic sectors. Currently, the epidemic is still complicated, tourism does not know when it will be able to recover with the time before the epidemic. However, the Government's resolution and the guidance of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have clearly stated that all 4 levels of translation, tourism activities rely on them to organize, with limited levels and scale. This is one of the open directions, creating favorable conditions for localities and businesses to restore business.
Many localities have re-established tourism activities from within the province, domestically and some places have participated in piloting international arrivals. In a short time, localities and tourism businesses have linked, built many new high-quality products with attractive prices, attracting many tourists, suitable for the new context. In which, some localities have had a positive change in the number of domestic tourists such as Phu Quoc (Kien Giang), Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa), Lao Cai...
- Vietnam has started the second phase of the tourism. piloting international arrivals, what are your expectations?
- I think there are many good signs to confirm that Vietnam's tourism industry will soon recover. In the first pilot phase, despite its short duration, Vietnam welcomed more than 1,000 international visitors. In particular, international guests have given positive feedback on Vietnam's reopening policy and are satisfied with the services and products they have just experienced. We have not recorded any cases of Covid-19 infection from international travelers. In particular, Vietnam's reopening of international commercial routes will be a positive resonance for the tourism and aviation industries to recover.
In January, Vietnam will enter phase 2 of the pilot program to welcome international visitors, focusing on Northeast Asian markets, moving to Europe, specifically Russia. During this period, passenger flights will expand, and localities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Dinh have also proposed to participate.
Director General of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh. Photo: TITC
- So how will Vietnam cooperate internationally to develop when many countries have successfully opened their doors to foreign tourism?
- We have determined the goal of the pilot to welcome international tourists is to re-exploit the market and are receiving positive signals from travel agencies and airlines that a large number of international tourists will return in the near future. next time. Currently, Vietnam is talking with Thailand about setting up a tourism bubble. Thailand has been successful in piloting international arrivals, so the connection should have a similar opening. I hope that in the near future ASEAN will have a common regulation on travel, and at the same time Vietnam reopening international flights will solve this problem.
- In the country, tourism links between localities play an important role, but many places are still hesitant, how does this affect tourism recovery?
- Tourism is an interdisciplinary, inter-regional, and highly socialized general economic sector, so cooperation is an indispensable requirement if you want to develop, especially in the context of the past 2 years Covid-19 has been affected. disrupting service business. The Government's resolution also requires harmonization between the goals of disease prevention and control and economic development and recovery. Therefore, localities also need to firmly grasp the point of view, in tourism, if you are too cautious, delay will miss a golden opportunity.
Many localities are still carrying out nCoV testing for tourists, even though there is no requirement for epidemiological investigation or coming from high-risk areas. In addition, the process of declaring movement between localities is not uniform, each place has an application. The state of opening but not quite so will cause businesses to run out of resources, especially affecting the local reputation in the eyes of tourists and furthermore, the reputation of Vietnam's tourism.
- As the two places most heavily affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, what actions have Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi taken to restore tourism activities?
- Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are the two largest tourist centers in the country to pick up and drop off tourists. After each epidemic is controlled, the tourism industry of the two localities has made efforts to advise the authorities to open tourism and proactively propose and develop new tourism programs.
Specifically, Ho Chi Minh City has carried out tourism promotion in the locality and provinces and cities across the country such as the Mekong River Delta, the North East and West.... The city's leaders and the tourism industry have taken measures to promote tourism. aggressively to attract tourists back. As for Hanoi, the City People's Committee and the tourism management agency have signed cooperation agreements with 11 provinces and cities in the East-Northwest region, the Midlands and the Central region, etc. This has great significance in creating motivation for tourists. localities restart tourism. Hanoi has also organized many conferences and seminars to introduce new products. I think this is a positive move.
I hope localities will establish a safe corridor, creating favorable conditions for tourists, and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will soon regain their growth momentum. Vibrant tourism activities at the two poles will spread good news, contributing to the recovery of the market across the country.
