Vietnam’s domestic tourism market is anticipated to bounce back in 2022 following a long COVID-19 hiatus thanks to joint efforts to build a safe corridor between management agencies, tourism associations, and businesses.
Hanoi shakes hands with other localities to create a safe tourism corridor
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recently announced a programme aimed at promoting domestic tourism in a safe and flexible manner whilst effectively controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.
The scheme, running with the theme of “Safe traveling - Full experience”, will strive to restore the market's confidence in safe and attractive domestic tourism.
Safe tourism has also been supported by 12 northern cities and provinces, including Hanoi, Quang Ninh and Hai Phong, through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on tourism cooperation to offer safe tourism services to holidaymakers.
Under the MoU, all parties have agreed to jointly develop specific support policies and commit to creating the right conditions for local tourism businesses to serve travelers, ensure traffic convenience and comply with pandemic regulations.
A representative from Hai Phong said that the northern city once set overly strict regulations to control people from entering or exiting the city. It has now removed all checkpoints erected at entrance gates, making it easier for people to travel back and forth.
Meanwhile, Lao Cai province that hosts the Sa Pa Tourism Festival every year has announced that it will share quarantine and treatment costs if holidaymakers are infected with the virus. The visitors are entitled to choose either to stay locally or move to their hometown for COVID-19 treatment at will.
Businesses expected that domestic tourism would get back on track in 2022 with numerous attractive products and destinations. A representative of Vietravel – one of the leading tour operators in Vietnam, said his company would launch a series of products connecting Ho Chi Minh City in the south and localities in the north-western region, to offer diverse and new experiences to visitors.
Do Van Thuc, deputy director of Dat Viet Tour Company, said that most of the domestic tourist routes in the south and central regions are now ready to welcome visitors. Dat Viet has restored most of the routes, including about 30 itineraries across three regions of Vietnam, to woo tourists in the lead up to the lunar new Year holiday.
2022 represents still a challenging year for the tourism industry. To seize opportunities, travel companies have no choice but to team up and offer safe tourism services to holidaymakers under the ‘tourism bubble’ model, said Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Doan Van Viet.