Small groups of tourists visit Phu Quoc island (Photo: kynghiviet.vn)HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Tourism businesses should be flexible to fosterdomestic travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic, experts have said.
The pandemic has caused travellers to pay more attention to health, safety,hygiene, travel insurance, and avoiding crowds, pushing demand for luxuryaccommodation with isolated spaces, travel to nearby places and shortervacations.
According to surveys, people pay attention to safety rather than price andchoose high-quality travel products.
Demand for marine and nature tourism products is increasing rapidly.
Customers make direct online bookings on websites of tour operators.
The tourism market is expected to shift from outbound domestic tours, and sotour companies need to have quality accommodation at reasonable prices to meetthis demand.
They need to quickly grasp market trends to redesign tourism products, focusingon luxury resort tourism, eco-tourism, health tourism, and adventure travel.
They should improve the quality of products and services so that tourists staylonger and spend more, the most important goal in the long term.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said domestic travelplays a key role in tourism now.
“It is high time for the whole sector to review, find new approaches and changemethods as well as the thinking among tourism workers to revive the travelmarket.”
The sector should focus on a market of nearly 100 million people who like to goon holidays when the pandemic is under control, he said.
He suggested introducing more products suitable for them.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam reported a surge in demand during theReunification Day (April 30) and Labour Day (May 1) holidays to almost 1.5million bookings, up 30 percent from 2019 in the pre-COVID era.
On April 29, Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City set a record for aholiday weekend by handling over 108,000 passengers, a number made even morenotable by the fact that the country’s borders remained closed.
Demand for domestic travel is significant.
Phung Quang Thang, director of Hanoitourist, said sustainability would be keygoing forward, and a small group of tourists would play an important role.
“Travel agencies should focus on quality rather than quantity, road travel willexpand, people will travel nearer to home than before.”
He said travel agents should pay more attention to sustainable tourism,enhancing their own role in community tourism, push for digital transformationand caring more about markets, tourism products and promotions.
Pham Ha, chairman of Lux Group, said before the pandemic outbreak 99 percent ofhis company’s customers had been foreigners and revenues were growing by 30 percenta year.
But with the epidemic keeping out international visitors, his business wasforced to change to become more flexible in terms of domestic tourism, he said.
Lai Minh Duy, vice chairman of the HCM City Tourism Association and generaldirector of TST Tourism Company, said localities and travel agents should focuson exploiting golf tourism, MICE tourism and driving tours, and enablecustomers to book online.
Viettravel general director Nguyen Quoc Ky said it is necessary to focus on thedomestic market, and tourism businesses should be encouraged to respond to thestimulus programme to enable the market to revive.
Nguyen Thi Khanh, chairwoman of the HCM City Tourism Association, said tourismbusinesses suffer heavy losses when they have to postpone tours since theystill have to pay service providers.
Besides, most have no revenues but have to pay interest and other expenses, andso rents should be waived for them in 2021 and 2022 and they should be offeredloans at zero interest rates to retain employees, she said.
Their bank loans should be rolled over so that they do not default, andinternational and domestic travel business licences and tour guide cards shouldbe reissued free of charge in 2021, she added.
Safety tour
Short-haul tours to safe destinations is likely to be preferred after thepandemic.
Bui Ta Hoang Vu, director of the city Department of Tourism, said: “For now theHCM City tourism sector will focus on domestic travel.”
Travel agencies and tour operators who meet COVID-19 safety standards based ona set of evaluation indicators would be allowed to operate, he said.
As businesses resume operations, preventive measures to ensure the health andsafety of customers are a priority, he said.
City tourism authorities are gearing up for intensive promotions to encouragetravel.
Room and ticket booking via online booking platforms without any form ofphysical contact would be a prominent trend in travellers’ behaviour this year,experts said.
Free independent travellers will tend to visit less-crowded destinations, whilegroup travellers want to join smaller groups and complete their trip within twoor three days to limit the risk of infection.
Tourism authorities need to improve products to improve the travel experienceand adopt data and technology solutions for tourism promotion and marketing.
Tourism businesses and destinations need to prioritise health and safety toguarantee visitors are completely safe.
The tourism industry needs to research international markets and tourists’behaviours to develop appropriate and effective communication programmes toprepare for the resumption of international travel./.
VNA
