Representatives of many large tourism businesses have made proposals to help Vietnam welcome international visitors effectively.
On March 15, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) held two meetings to discuss reopening tourism. In general, the new policies will create the best possible conditions for all localities and businesses to welcome international visitors and restore tourism. Many proposals have been made, promising to make big changes if they can be applied in practice.
Adjust 5K
Sharing about recommendations for the tourism industry, Ms. Tran Nguyen, Head of Sales of Sun World Group (Sun Group), said that there needs to be a change in policies that are no longer appropriate, specifically 5K.
The representative of this business argued that the important 2K for both domestic and international visitors to keep is wearing masks and making medical declarations. The other Ks need to be applied more flexibly and appropriately.
In addition, Ms. Nguyen also disagrees with the new visa-free policy reinstated by the Government. According to her, the return of visa exemption for citizens of 13 countries is a good sign. However, the amount of stay of only 15 days is too little.
The majority of visitors from these countries tend to travel for a long time (15-21 days). Therefore, if they do not extend their stay, they may choose easier markets such as Thailand.
In fact, until March 15, Vietnam still did not have a specific set of guidelines on welcoming international guests. The new guidance of the Ministry of Health released on the evening of March 15 is considered to have solved the problem of isolation for visitors on entry. Accordingly, guests entering Vietnam with negative test results for nCoV can leave their accommodation. However, the business side wants the Government to give a clear message so that they can work with foreign partners.
“We have had many good signs, but we still need instructions and messages from the Government. Regardless of whether there is medical isolation or not, the important thing is that we will be ‘the only Vietnam’. Regulations can’t be allowed to be inconsistent, from one location to another.
“Regarding the opening, Vietnam needs to give a message to international tourists such as safe products, competitive quality, and competitive prices. In the beginning, businesses should not set profit targets. Focus on recovering tourism and profits will come,” said Mr. Nguyen Manh Quan, Permanent Deputy General Director of Bamboo Airways.
How to attract international visitors?
The issue of how to attract international visitors is also a concern of businesses. After 2 years of the epidemic, their behavior and travel trends have changed a lot. Previous studies need to be updated to attract international visitors to choose Vietnam.
Looking at the figures in 2019, international visitors from Asia to Vietnam reached 14.3 million (accounting for 79.8% of the total number of international visitors to Vietnam). Visitors from Europe reached 2.1 million. Visitors from the Americas, Australia and Africa were 973,800, 432,400 and 48,000 respectively.
From these figures, it can be seen that the Asian market is especially important for Vietnam’s inbound tourism. Among these, Korea and China are the two largest markets. However, both are having difficult policies in tourism, especially China is still pursuing “Zero Covid”.
Some other major markets that are paying attention to Vietnam are Japan, Singapore or India.
Mr. Vu Hong Nam, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan, said that the country highly appreciates Vietnam’s epidemic prevention and control work and considers the opening of tourism as a trend. However, attracting the market that contributed nearly 1 million visitors in 2019 to return to Vietnam is not easy.
“The Japanese government is encouraging domestic tourism. In the past, it was cheaper for them to go abroad than at home, but now it’s the other way around. In addition, they also do not encourage crowded tours even though the Japanese tendency is to like them. I think we need to have discussions to better understand this market. The time for Japanese people to travel to Vietnam may be in June, July or August due to a long vacation,” said Mr. Nam.
Or Singapore, even though it is a small country, people have a very high tourism demand. However, according to information from the Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore, the reaction of the people of this country (or foreigners, Vietnamese living in Singapore) to our open door policy is “happy with disappointment”.
The problem is that Vietnam is doing it too slowly, especially from the Ministry of Health. Therefore, Vietnam needs to have clearer and more open health policies if it wants to please this market.
Many other comments from Vietnamese Ambassadors to other countries were also discussed. In general, the majority supported the removal of cumbersome procedures related to isolation. Consistency is important to avoid confusing information for customers. In addition, trends that need updating are green tourism, rural tourism, avoiding contact and avoiding crowds.
@ Zing News