Tourism businesses in Vietnam have all planned to operate after a long time of closure because of Covid-19, and are waiting for support to overcome difficulties soon.
The policy to stimulate demand and restore tourism of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recently promulgated and the pilot program to welcome international visitors to Phu Quoc (Kien Giang) has just been approved by the Government... positive move for the tourism industry and tens of thousands of businesses are going through bleak times.
The Sun Group representative expects the "revival" of the tourism industry, when the reopening plan is approved by the Government, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and other ministries and sectors. involves careful implementation at each stage, with well-thought-out routes and methods.
Recently, the group's tourist resorts, resorts and hotels could not receive guests. Recognizing that difficulties and challenges caused by the epidemic are inevitable, the representative still affirmed that he is always ready in terms of attitude and strategy to not be passive or wavering.
Currently, in addition to accompanying and standing side by side with the Government and localities to fight against the epidemic, the group spends time building and repairing all hotels and amusement parks across the country. At the same time, the group also prepares attractive and quality-enhancing products and services, trains human resources, and strengthens epidemic prevention measures at a higher level.
Sun Group also focuses on linking with partners in other fields such as aviation, transportation, digital platforms and building a destination product ecosystem to catch up with the international market according to the Government's policy. At the same time, businesses are deploying information technology to upgrade customer experience, specifically the trend of "no touch, one touch".
As one of the reputable travel businesses in Vietnam, Vietravel has also prepared detailed scenarios for the restoration so that when the Government and the tourism industry agree on the plan, there are specific guiding documents. If possible, the business can reactivate immediately.
The company's deputy general director, Ms. Huynh Phan Phuong Hoang, said: In addition to serving Vietnamese tourists traveling domestically, for the Inbound segment, the company will strongly welcome experts, overseas Vietnamese repatriation, international visitors from green areas... regulations of the Government of Vietnam.
The company will coordinate with provinces and cities that are allowed to welcome guests to build a self-contained product set within the province. Over the past time, the company has retrained its staff as well as ensured that the entire system is injected with enough vaccine doses to ensure safety. Upcoming tourism products will be in line with post-Covid-19 trends such as closeness to nature, health care, eco-tourism, golf... When Vietnam reopens to international visitors, the public The company will coordinate with restaurant and hotel partners to build tourism products at competitive prices with tourist islands in the region such as Phuket (Thailand), Bali (Indonesia)...
Vietravel Airlines have an international flight permit. When the pick-up is approved, the airline expects to carry out charter flights at prices that stimulate demand.
Always in the mood to activate immediately after each epidemic is under control, from the beginning of 2021, Oxalis (Quang Binh) - the only unit licensed to operate tours to Son Doong - has built a plan, so that it can be one of the first businesses to meet Covid-19 safety requirements.
Up to now, 80% of the company's employees have received the full dose of the vaccine, the remaining 20% have received the first dose. In addition, the company also deploys vaccination for the entire supply chain such as porters, garages, hotels, restaurants... to form a safe chain to serve customers.
In the middle of this year, the company also proposed to the tourism management agency to submit to the People's Council of Quang Binh province for approval to reduce the fee for visiting scenic spots in 2022. At the end of August, the decision was made. Through the approval, Quang Binh province offers a 50% discount on adventure tourism products that Oxalis is exploiting. This is also the basis for the company to deploy a new stimulus package for 2022, with an average reduction of 10-20%. Currently, Son Doong expedition tour next year has registered nearly 600 visitors, reaching nearly 60% of the number of licensed visitors.
Along with being ready to reopen, tourism businesses also have many wishes for support, especially in financial terms. Mr. Pham Ha, Chairman of Lux Group, said that the pilot plan to welcome international visitors to Phu Quoc is a good sign of the tourism industry. However, he suggested that it is necessary to have a plan and an overall roadmap as soon as possible so that businesses do not face difficulties in promoting products with foreign partners and customers. In addition to information about the pick-up process, product content and prices are also what they care about.
"October begins the peak season for international tourists, but you don't have to open the door to have visitors. The promotion needs to be done as soon as possible to attract them back," he said. Through studying consumer behavior of customers, the company said that Phu Quoc, Mui Ne and Vung Tau of Vietnam are still favorite destinations for tourists, especially for the European market. Mr. Ha said that Europe is a potential market, with a large number of tourists with high tourism demand and high affordability. In addition, markets such as Singapore and South Korea also need to be promoted.
Mr. Ha emphasized, the biggest difficulty of tourism enterprises today is capital and human resources. Facing the fourth wave of Covid-19, although resilient, businesses have also run out of cash flow. Therefore, policies from banks such as lending to supplement capital, freezing debt, reducing interest rates, reducing taxes and fees, and supporting social insurance for employees... are the best "medicine" right now.
During the Covid-19 epidemic, about 95% of international businesses closed and tens of thousands of workers in the tourism industry moved to other fields. Therefore, Mr. Ha is concerned that tourism will lack high-class and quality products if there is a lack of qualified human resources.
Similarly, the representative of Sun Group understands the efforts of the Government, but businesses still need stronger and more specific support from the Government, ministries and localities. In particular, prioritizing and accelerating the progress of vaccination to create herd immunity is important in the strategy of localities such as Da Nang, Phu Quoc, Hue, Hoi An, Ha Long, Nha Trang, Sa Pa, Da Lat... This is a key basis for reopening domestic tourism and realizing the pilot plan of "vaccine passports" for the international market in Phu Quoc. This is also the basis for further plans in the future, which can help the tourism industry gradually recover strongly after the epidemic.
Finally, the common desire of businesses is timely support policies, especially in finance to remove difficulties in cash flow and have strong investment capital again after the epidemic is controlled. In addition, policies on relaxation and reduction of taxes, fees, charges and land rents... for businesses heavily affected by Covid-19 should also be taken into account.
