Nghe An tourism is striving to recover in 3 phases in the new normal state.

SORROW FOR THE SMOKE-FREE INDUSTRY

Delegate Nguyen Manh Cuong - Director of the Department of Tourism speaking at the hall. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Responding to the opinions raised by the delegates of the 18th Provincial People's Council during the discussion session in groups revolving around the field he is in charge of, Director of the Department of Tourism Nguyen Manh Cuong said that in 2020 and 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic deeply affected the service and trade sectors, of which tourism was one of the sectors that suffered the most losses. This delegate cited that up to 70-80% of accommodation establishments and travel businesses in the area had to stop operating, and said that this was "sadness for the industry in the past time" even though in fact, the tourism industry has tried very hard to work with businesses and accommodation establishments to strengthen epidemic prevention work, register as centralized quarantine points, etc.

Previously, the Provincial People's Committee's Report on the implementation of the socio-economic development plan in 2021 also assessed that due to the complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic, service industries were severely affected, especially trade, tourism, transportation, etc. The total number of guests staying reached 1,268,000, equal to 47%; tourism revenue is expected to reach 1,088 billion VND, equal to 42% compared to 2020.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the fleet of vehicles of a travel agency cannot be rented by tours and must stay in place, losing both parking fees and regular maintenance costs. Photo: Nguyen Hai

In addition, the complicated developments of the epidemic have caused many cultural and sports activities to be temporarily suspended; some tourism development linkage activities have been postponed or canceled, such as the Tourism Development Linkage Forum between Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the extended North Central provinces in Nghe An, the Nghe An Tourism Promotion and Advertising Conference in Hanoi in 2021, welcoming Famtrip delegations to survey Nghe An tourism... In addition, the number of visitors to museums, relic sites,... has also decreased sharply.

RESTORE TOURISM ACTIVITIES IN 3 PHASES

The leader of the Department of Tourism also expressed that after the Prime Minister announced the transition to the new normal state, requiring economic sectors to have effective plans to organize activities according to the specific situation, the Department advised the People's Committee of Nghe An province to issue Plan No. 614/KH-UBND dated October 26, 2021 on Restoring Nghe An tourism activities in the new normal state until 2022.

Tourists must strictly comply with wearing masks when checking in at hotels and motels in Cua Lo Town. Photo: Quang An

The purpose of the above plan is to proactively and promptly deploy tasks and solutions to restore tourism activities in the new normal state, ensuring the dual goal of both preventing and fighting the epidemic and recovering and developing the socio-economy, in line with the situation of controlling the Covid-19 epidemic in the province. At the same time, remove difficulties for the operations of tourism businesses and units due to the negative impact of the Covid-19 epidemic to recover and develop. To date, 7/21 districts, cities and towns have issued plans to restore tourism activities in the new normal conditions.

Delegate Nguyen Manh Cuong said that initially, there have been positive results in the implementation of the Provincial People's Committee's orientation on restoring tourism activities according to the roadmap for transitioning to the state of epidemic prevention and control. Specifically, currently in phase 1, priority is given to attracting domestic tourists in the conditions of bubble tourism, safe tourism, with the condition that visitors have been vaccinated and tested negative for Covid-19.

In the coming phase 2, Nghe An tourism is expected to open to domestic visitors from now until June 2022, then move to phase 3 to expand to welcome international tourists with vaccine passports after being approved by competent authorities.

The leaders of the Department of Tourism expressed their hope to receive attention and cooperation from relevant agencies and units to promote tourism, and the support of news agencies and newspapers to better promote Nghe An tourism, bringing this industry to gradually stabilize, operate and meet requirements in the new normal conditions.