Reactivating’ green economy: Tourism sector ensures safety

As the COVID-19 pandemic is showing signs of being controlled and people are starting to be largely vaccinated against the disease, the tourism sector is accelerating the implementation of the recovery scenarios it has prepared.

Tourism close to nature is now a favourite choice of tourists

Ensuring safety for tourists is a message the sector hopes to send to the people now. On the “reactivation” of the green economy in the new normal situation, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Ha Van Sieu talked to the VNA on various aspects of its plan.

Regarding the goals of promoting the need for domestic tourism of the sector in the time to come, the official said the Vietnam Tourism Association, together with localities (including Ninh Binh province, the host of the 2021 National Tourism Year), will hold the initiative in the efforts. It can be said that after the recent wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector has drawn many lessons, he stressed.

With the lessons learned, the sector will proactively provide information to the market and tourists on its capability to ensure safety so they can feel relaxed to take the tours, Sieu said.

The official added that the new factors and products should be fully popularised to customers, and activities of the national levels announced to facilitate the involvement of localities, groups and firms.

A special message should be sent to the market this time, that is the tourism sector ensures safety for tourism, Sieu stressed.

All those activities are instructed by the Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control, the official said, adding that the tourism products that are good to the human health are coordinated by experienced managers, that is why tourists can feel sure that the tourist activities will ensure their absolute safety.

As for the “vaccination passport”, Sieu said this is only a technical term, while all of the activities the sector is attentive to now is the plan to reopen the international tourism market once conditions allow. “We have prepared a roadmap, worked out conditions with strict provisions on assessing the situation, and built criteria and tool kits to ensure safe tourism,” he stressed.

Those include the determination of safest destinations, firms that meet all the conditions, and services to be provided to travelers taking package tours, the official elaborated, highlighting that they are basic contents of the plan to reopen the market for foreign visitors.

The administration is perfecting the relevant document to be submitted to authorities for approval so that when conditions allow, the plan can be realised immediately, Sieu further said, adding it is up to the health sector to decide who can be allowed to enter Vietnam.

Regarding the domestic market which has been taken as a key one for 2021, the official stressed on its efficiency, the application of technology and the classification of the segments.

Outbound tourists create a high-level source of spending which should be attracted, Sieu said, adding attention should be paid to the group as they are now unable to travel to foreign countries.

This shows that one of the strategies for the development of the domestic tourism in the time to come is to classify the markets after specific needs, which is expected to gain a higher revenue, he said.

Talking about the 2021 National Tourism Year to be launched on April 20, the official said it is expected to create a hallmark of a new era of tourism development post-pandemic.

This is the time to reactivate tourism, the year will usher in many chances to develop tourism as the world is accepting to “live along” with the pandemic, Sieu concluded./.

VNA