During the recent Tet (Lunar New Year) Festival, tourism activities have been bustling again in a number of tourist centres across the country. According to statistics from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), during the nine days of the Tet holiday (from January 29 to February 6, 2022), the tourism sector served 6.1 million domestic visitors, including 3.2 million guests staying overnight at accommodation establishments as well as earning over 25 trillion VND.
The leading destinations in terms of tourists during the recent holiday were Tay Ninh (595,000 travelers and a room occupancy of about 65 percent), Ba Ria – Vung Tau (420,000 visitors and 3-5 star room occupancy of 97 percent), Lam Dong (over 300,000 guests), Ho Chi Minh City (300,000), Thanh Hoa (290,000 tourists) and Hanoi (109,000). These are numbers in the context of many provinces and cities, spring festivals and events with large gatherings having been stopped to ensure epidemic prevention and control. This shows that people’s demand for travel in the country is very large. Domestic tourists have been becoming gradually bolder and more confident while participating in tourism activities in a safe and flexible way.
According to records from major travel agencies such as Vietravel, Saigontourist and Fiditour, the number of tourists booking short-day tours during and after Tet to nearby destinations ws quite high. The VNAT noted that the positive results were achieved thanks to Government Resolution No.128/NQ-CP on safe and flexible adaptation to the epidemic, the acceleration of vaccination, the support from the Government and ministries toward the recovery of tourism sector, businesses’ determination and flexible adaptation, and people’s trust in epidemic prevention and control measures. Tourism enterprises all hope that these positive signs will soon revive tourism business activities. Analytical data from the Google Destination Insights tool proves that from the beginning of January 2022, the number of searches for information about domestic tourism nationwide increased significantly compared to the previous two months and by 30 percent compared to the same period last year. This is also a positive sign for the acceleration of tourism during the upcoming National Reunification Day (April 30) and May Day (May 1) holidays and summer.
In the international tourism market, along with the good news that Vietnam will remove the restrictions on the frequency of international flights from mid-February 2022, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has also proposed a roadmap to open up international tourism activities in a safe and effective manner to the Prime Minister. Accordingly, from now until March 30, the second phase of the pilot programme to welcome international visitors will continue towards the expansion of recipients and the welcoming range (localities that have completed the injection of three vaccine shots and green areas), flexibility in testing requirements, and the expansion of -permitted destinations. From March 31, 2022, international tourism activities will be returned fully both in terms of inbound and outbound routes via all international border gates. On the morning of February 15, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam chaired a meeting with the relevant ministries and agencies to discuss the plan to reopen tourism activities in the new normal from March 15 in the spirit of urgency, responsibility, flexible and safe adaptation, and effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic. The clear determination for the reopening of international tourism not only helps businesses and localities to make plans to improve their reception capacity and promptly deploy the appropriate propaganda but also supports international tourists to get accurate information for travel planning.
Even during the period when international tourism was paralysed, Vietnam still held online promotional activities via the website Vietnam.travel and social networking sites to maintain brand recognition and remind international tourists of its status as a safe and attractive destination country. In particular, since November 2021, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has promoted the campaign “Live fully in Vietnam” via its website and social networks, targeting the international tourist market in combination with tourism digital transformation solutions towards a smart tourism ecosystem.
Thus, the "ice" has gradually melted. The important issue is that localities and businesses should make careful preparations in terms of human and material resources to welcome tourists in a safe manner. Director General of the VNAT Nguyen Trung Khanh said that following two years of being heavily affected by the pandemic, the tourism business system has not yet been consolidated because many units have changed their profession and human resources have not recovered. These difficulties should be rapidly overcome to ensure the quality of tourism. Standing Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh also emphasised the quality of tourism services needs to be determined by the human resources available, so the State’s support in training these is crucial.
