The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak is a major shock to the tourism industry worldwide. Vietnamese tourism has also inevitably suffered from it since the Lunar New Year.
From the last days of January to early February 2020, the tourist attractions and entertainment areas all fell into a deserted state, many festivals and cultural activities were canceled, many tourists called their tours off and many hotels were empty... But in recent days, when efforts to control and prevent epidemics have been carried out quickly and thoroughly to bring optimistic results, there are many signaling that Vietnam’s tourism industry is gradually “warming up”.
During the Covid-19 epidemic, Hoi An ancient town (Quang Nam) was a special place to be noticed by the number of tourists coming here every year up to 5.3 million. Vice Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Van Son said: “Hoi An is ready to measure body temperature and equipped with masks at the ticket offices to support visitors.”
hoi an (1)
Currently Hoi An welcomes from nearly 4,000 to over 5,000 foreign visitors, most of which are from Europe and America. Mr. Nguyen Van Son also said that Hoi An was still “peaceful in the epidemic, it is estimated that the number of visitors will only decrease from 10% to 15%, mainly Asian tourists. In contrast, the number of European visitors is still very large”.
This was affirmed by Ms. Trinh Thi Thuy - Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism in a reception on February 18 for Chief Representative of the UNESCO Office in Vietnam Michael Croft. In fact, as of February 20, all 16 Covid-19 patients in Vietnam were discharged from the hospitals. Many provinces were eligible be declared free from the epidemic, most notably Khanh Hoa has not recorded any new cases of the virus for a total of 33 days, whilst Thanh Hoa has gone 26 days with no new cases. Many famous tourist provinces/cities are safe with no Covid-19 infection case such as Hoi An, Hue, Phu Quoc, Quang Ninh, Da Nang and Quy Nhon.
This safety comes from the efforts of the government, ministries, agencies, businesses and people in disease control. Right from the first information about the outburst, disease control and prevention measures were quickly implemented, hospitals were ready, the system of laboratories joined in and the communication was comprehensive on all media...
Companies in the tourism industry also immediately joined hands with many practical activities such as free masking and disinfecting soap for visitors or changing the menu to take care of visitors’ health...
Mr. Nguyen Quy Phuong, Director of the Tourism Department said: “The Ministry of Health’s well-performing role in this outbreak is one of the most important factors to dispel the anxiety of domestic and foreign visitors. Since then, new measures to promote tourism have high effectiveness.” Accordingly, Mr. Phuong said that the most practical measures in near future to promote tourism is turning to domestic tourists, strength tourism stimulus packages, or discount shipping services...
In addition, the airlines cooperating with travel companies are committed to 100% disinfection of the cockpit. Restaurants and hotels are assessed, screened, strictly controlled and fully equipped masks and hand gel for visitors.
These are timely measures, and for long-term or macro measures, Mr. Nguyen Quy Phuong said that Vietnam’s tourism needs to reduce dependence on the Chinese market, invest in expanding new markets such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, UAE, and research and exploit various types of tourism such as medical tourism, agricultural tourism, sport tourism...
