Tourists on Ca Na beach in Thuan Nam district of Ninh Thuan province (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Many popular tourist attractions across Vietnam have seen agradual increase in domestic tourists on being re-opened after nearly twomonths hibernating due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the pandemic in the country has been under control with no new cases innearly 20 days and the social distancing regulations have been eased, manyfamilies have gone on vacation after weeks being confined at home.
However, many are still wary of the virus, so they opt to travel by privatevehicles to nearby destinations instead of buying tours. There has also been anincrease in online bookings for hotels or flight tickets instead of via travelagencies.
Ha Thi Thu Thao’s family, consisting of eight adults and four children from Hanoi,has chosen a resort that is located around 60km from the city for their holiday.
“I feel quite worried that the COVID-19 epidemic is not over yet, so I booked aseparate villa with a private pool and used our own car to drive to the resortinstead of using a service car,” she said, adding that her family also broughtalong food and drinks from home.
After checking in at the resort, they abided by regulations on virus preventionby wearing masks, washing hands with disinfectant solution and filing onlinemedical declarations for family members.
The staff at the resort also regularly reminded tourists to practice preventionmeasures, so Thao felt secure when her children played around in the villabefore coming back to school on May 11.
Many provinces have also come up with tourism products and offered manypromotions or discounts to attract tourists.
Notably, as many tourist attractions have re-opened their doors, the tourismauthority of HCM City has cooperated with travel agencies to launch toursentitled "Following the Sai Gon Special Force Footprint".
Joining the tour, tourists will disguise themselves as the liberation specialforce members operating in Sai Gon during the anti-American war. They will beable to drive the old cars and motorcycles that belong to the real Sai GonSpecial Force, creep in the tunnels or eat at the places where specialforce members used to gather. Particularly, most destinations within the tourhave been equipped with modern technology combined with practical experiences.
According to Nguyen Tien Dat, General Director of AZA Tourism Company, he hasnever witnessed such a gloomy time for domestic travel agencies over 20 yearsworking in the field.
In contrast, in previous years, he used to warn tourists about tours or bookingshortages as well as price increases, overcharging or traffic congestion inmany destinations.
The tourism demand during holidays is still high this year but short-termtours, family trips, small groups or groups of youngsters backpacking havebecome more common, he added.
According to travel consultingfirm Outbox Consulting, domestic travel is poised to drive Vietnam’s tourismrecovery this summer.
Domestic tours with short-hauland safe destinations would be preferred after the pandemic crisis, and travelcompanies should focus on working individuals and millennials instead ofgroups of guests.
“For now, the city’s tourism sector will focus on domestic travel,” said Bui TaHoang Vu, Director of HCM City’s Department of Tourism.
Travel agencies and touroperators that meet safety standards based on a set of evaluation indicatorsfor Covid-19 risk assessment at tourism and travel businesses will be allowedto operate tours, Vu said.
As businesses resume operation, preventive measures to ensure the health andsafety of customers are a priority to adapt to the new normal, he said.
At least 90 percent of small- and medium-sized travel companieshave suspended operations, while state-owned businesses are operatingon low capacity as the coronavirus shut down travel.
He said it was a positive sign that some travel companies were set toresume operations after the holiday.
HCM City tourism authorities are gearing up for intensive promotions toencourage locals to travel.
Tran Viet Hung, Chairman of the HCM City Tourism Association, said theassociation has kicked off stimulus tour programmes with discounts of 40percent./.
VNA
