Southeastern tourism market remains stable

Tourism markets in the southeast region have remained dynamic thanks to appropriate changes to minimise losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new cabin car system is applied in the early of 2020 that attracts lots of visitors to Ba Den Mountain in Tay Ninh province. Tourists enjoy taking pictures at this new spot

Companies and local governments have focused on promoting domestic travel by creating new itineraries that include local attractions.

Tay Ninh province has worked with tourist companies by reducing electricity bills for accommodation, tourist procedure fees, and other services.

Last year, Ba Den (Black Lady) Mountain (Tay Ninh) attracted 4.7 million guests, accounting for 87 percent compared to 2019. New cable car stations were officially completed at the beginning of 2020.

The number of tourists visiting Ba Den Mountain also increased thanks to the frequent promotions and discounts.

Ba Ria - Vung Tau province welcomed 10.8 million guests in 2020, down 30 percent compared to 2019. The number of international tourists was 180,000, down by about 65 percent year on year.

However, according to Nguyen Van Dung, chief of the sales department of the 4-star Malibu hotel in Vung Tau, said that despite the coronavirus crisis, the hotel’s revenue in 2020 was still acceptable, and was even higher compared to the same period last year for MICE services (Meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions).

Vung Tau is one of many provinces that have been less affected than others.

Many tourist companies and hotels have created numerous discounts from 10 to 30 percent for tourists.

In July 2020, up to 90 companies in Vung Tau launched discount deals, resulting in a 15 percent increase in visitors compared to the same period.

In 2021, the southeast region plans to focus on linkage tours. Provinces will digitize tourism products and introduce local destinations via apps.

Tay Ninh is expanding its local tourism range by including ecotourism and spiritual tourism with modern goods containing traditional values. It aims to become a tourism and entertainment centre.

Vung Tau will concentrate on main tourist types such as MICE and leisure, sport and medical tourism, among others, in 2021.

Vietnam tourism suffered losses in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien said that revenue from national tourism in 2020 fell to 531 trillion VND (23 billion USD) because of the pandemic and the number of international visitors dropped by 80 percent and domestic tourists by 50 percent./.

VNA