Vietnam’s PM focuses on International Tourism
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the teleconference on promoting Vietnam’s international tourism
Hanoi, The Gulf Observer: Vietnam reopened its borders soon after the COVID-19 pandemic was brought under control, international tourist arrivals have been modest due to a number of bottlenecks, experts heard at a national conference on the issue.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the teleconference on promoting Vietnam’s international tourism with leaders of 20 localities which are home to international tourism hot spots.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, due to the pandemic, since 2020, the number of foreign arrivals in Vietnam declined. In 2021, about 3,500 foreign arrivals were reported.
From March 2022, Vietnam officially reopened its tourism sector, earlier than many other countries in the region, in the spirit of flexible, safe adaptation and effective control of COVID-19.
Vietnam has also resumed its visa waiver programme, and has not required medical declarations and COVID-19 vaccine certificates upon arrival from May 15, 2022.
A series of tourism promotion activities have been stepped up, especially on digital platforms.
However, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism reported that the recovery of international tourism has been slow. In the first 11 months of 2022, the number of foreign arrivals to Vietnam reached 2.9 million, including 2.7 million foreign tourists, increasing by 21.1 per cent compared to the same period last year but declining by 81.9 per cent compared to the same period of 2019, prior to the pandemic.It is estimated that the total foreign arrivals in Vietnam for the whole of 2022 will be 3.5 million, which is only 70 per cent of the target of 5 million, and extremely modest compared to the 101.3 million domestic visitors.Participants at the conference blamed the modest statistics partly on impacts of international conflicts, pandemic prevention and control of other countries.
Other reasons are ineffective tourism promotion resources. Vietnam’s tourism products and services are still limited while the visa policy has not created favourable conditions for international tourists to come and extend their stay.
