Many tourism businesses expect a positive outlook for 2022, with the country’s borders fully reopening from mid-March.
Vietnam’s vaccine coverage rate among the highest in the world, coupled with the positive results of the pilot program of reopening borders for inbound tourists during the Lunar New Year in 2022, has inspired hope for local tourism companies.
Bui Bang Giang, co-founder of Asia Exotica Vietnam Travel, is very excited about the reopening and hopes to have clients as early as summer 2022.
“We expect total arrivals to be less than 40 percent of the 2019 level as tourism faces many challenges. I believe Vietnam’s tourism will recover between 2024 and 2025,” she told the Hanoi Times.
Asia Exotica Vietnam Travel, a travel business targeting Spanish and Portuguese-speaking travelers, was doing well before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some tourism companies are predicting a surge in the number of Vietnamese returning from Singapore, South Korea and the United States between now and mid-2022, creating opportunities for companies to enter international markets in the coming summer.
According to Vietravel Hanoi, in the first few days of 2022, it caters to four groups from the Southeast Asian country to Phu Quoc Island in the southern Kien Giang province.
The Vietnamese travel agency plans to receive a large number of international tourists from Europe, America, South Korea and Japan this summer.
Deputy Director of Vietravel Hanoi Pham Van Bay said: “We are coordinating with domestic tourism partners and overseas general agents to bring international tourists to Vietnam and to send Vietnamese tourists to Southeast Asian and Northeast Asian countries by the end of the second quarter of 2022. . “
Meanwhile, Nguyen Son Thuy, general manager of Indochina Unique Tourist Co., Ltd, said the company has now launched tourism services for Thai tourists following the reopening of the Vietnam-Thailand route. The company expects April to be the Songkran holiday in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, so their number of customers from these countries to Vietnam will increase.
Given the many changes in the industry and traveler’s habits during the pandemic, local tour companies have researched and are preparing to launch new tours to suit the new needs of guests, Giang added. “Our main destinations are Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, and we still want to have customers who do package tours as before. We have more bookings for group tours than private tours, so we’re working hard to keep prices down.”
Ready to welcome tourists to the capital
As Hanoi restarts its tourism activities under the country’s recovery plan, many local businesses are planning to take advantage of Hanoi’s potential to create specific products focused on cultural tourism.
According to Trinh My Nghe, head of international travel agencies, international travel agencies are working with other travel agencies to create one-day cultural tours to explore the capital and Hanoi in spring.
Bavi National Park curator Duhut said they are coordinating with the University of Forestry to launch a tour called “Myrtle Season” where tourists will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in nature.
lack of human resources
However, in the process of preparing to resume tourism, many tourism companies have encountered many difficulties and obstacles, especially the shortage of human resources.
One of the main difficulties is the lack of human resources, as many tourism businesses are laying off staff due to the impact of Covid-19, said Zhang Quoc Hung, chairman of the Hanoi UNESCO Tourism Club.
“It is necessary for the governing body to support companies in training and developing human resources with a view to fully resuming tourism activities,” he told Hanoi Times.
Phung Xuan Khanh, director of Tien Phong Travel, shared that in order to open up tourism activities, in addition to a more open visa policy, lifting of quarantine protocols, and simplification of the testing process for Covid-19, the opening hours of dining facilities need to be extended for the convenience of tourists.
In addition, other businesses have proposed the establishment of “safe travel corridors” to strengthen links between regulators, airlines, travel agencies and destinations to create high-quality tourism at favorable prices.
In order to eliminate difficulties and create conditions for enterprises to realize the potential and advantages of Hanoi, the Municipal People’s Committee released the tourism recovery and development plan for 2022-2023.
In the first phase, the city’s tourism industry will focus on developing tourists from Hanoi and other provinces and cities around the capital, and then expand to key South-Central provinces and Ho Chi Minh City. It will also facilitate connections with other places to build safe tourism products.
Dang Huong Giang, director of the Hanoi Tourism Office, told the Hanoi Times: “Opening doors to welcome tourists is one of the solutions for the recovery and development of tourism in the capital and the country. The capital’s tourism sector is prioritizing improving the quality of culture, heritage, crafts and ancient villages, and developing agriculture. Tourism, Healthcare and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Meetings and Events).”
Source: hanoitimes
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