Vietnam tourism industry to revive operations soon, says Minister

23 Sep 2021

Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) is confident in resuming operations within the tourism sector which was hammered by the Covid crisis.

This according to Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Nguyen Van Hung on Thursday.

Whilst speaking at an online forum regarding the impact of the pandemic, he said the ministry would soon submit a tourism proposal for approval by the relevant authorities.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) was asked to work with regions to update tourism products to allow every city and province to have a unique product, as well as connecting tourism products to highlight certain tourism activities, Hung added.  

The Minister has asked the VNAT to launch a website that the Vietnam Tourism Advisory Board has previously done, to digitalise destinations.

Hung added that regions should connect with businesses and tourism associations to organise promotion and investment forums and conferences to boost tourism.

In addition, the VNAT indicated the government should implement a separate policy on Covid vaccination for major tourist areas, to allow domestic tourism to resume as well as attract overseas visitors to Vietnam.

Last year the global tourism industry reported a 73% fall in the number international tourists worldwide, according to the World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development held in Beijing.

In Vietnam in 2020, the number of international visitors fell by 80% compared to 2019, whilst domestic tourists dropped by 34%, and the gross revenue of tourism declined by 59%.

Between January and August, the number of domestic visitors hit 31.2 million, a 5.5% fall year-on-year. Gross revenue from domestic tourism reached $6 billion.