Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) said onFebruary 25 that it has asked travel firms to stop receiving tourists from countrieshit by COVID-19 in the face of new complicated development of the disease inthe Republic of Korea and Japan.
In its document No.23/CV-HHDLVN, VITA urged local tourism associations andtravel companies to keep themselves updated about the COVID-19 situation, andstrictly follow the Government and Health Ministry’s regulations on the diseaseprevention and control.
In case tours cannot be cancelled, travel firmsmust ask their partners to provide information on customers’ activities in the 21days prior to their scheduled trip to Vietnam. The visitors are required to complywith Vietnam’s rules on disease prevention, including quarantine if necessary.
Meanwhile, with groups of visitors who have already entered Vietnam, localtravel agents need to confirm their health condition in the 21 days before theirdate of arrival, as well as monitor their health during their stay in Vietnam,and report the information to competent authorities.
VITA also suggested local firms to refrain from organising tours to countrieswith COVID-19 outbreaks. For groups of tourists who have already arrived intothe RoK, Japan, Italy and Iran, travel agencies should change the itinerary tokeep the tourists away from disease-hit areas or crowded sites. The tourists areadvised to shorten travel time and strictly follow epidemic prevention rules ofhost countries.
As the RoK and Japan are two tourism markets of Vietnam, travel firms shouldwork closely with their foreign partners to carry out regulations on diseaseprevention and control, as well as provide good services for the visitors, thusbuilding good and long-term relations with Korean and Japanese firms.
Earlier, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism estimated that theCOVID-19 epidemic could cause losses of 5.9-7.7 billion USD for the domestic tourismsector in the next three months.
The tourism sector estimated a 90 percentdecrease in the number of Chinese visitors due to the disease, and a 50-70 percentdrop in holidaymakers from other countries.
Meanwhile, the number of domesticholidaymakers is likely to suffer a fall of 50-70 percent./.
VNA
