Government leader orders proper solutions to boost green and sustainable tourism

PM Chinh on December 21 chaired a conference in order to promote the attraction of international tourists to Vietnam, with the event featuring the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung, along with leaders of ministries and agencies which was connected online to 63 cities and provinces across the nation.

As part of his opening speech, PM Chinh highlighted tourism as an important economic sector which increasingly contributes to the economies of many countries. This is the development trend of the future through green, sustainable, and environmentally-friendly development.

The Vietnamese cabinet leader said that in 2019, Vietnamese competitiveness increased by four places, rising from 67th to 63rd in the world in terms of tourism attraction. However, the subsequent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic crippled global tourism activities.

The Party and State have paid great attention to the topic, issuing many policies aimed at helping the tourism industry swiftly recover, attracting more domestic and foreign tourists, as well as fully opening to tourism activities on March 15, 2021.

Measures include reinstating visa-free entry and exit policies, not requiring COVID-19 vaccination certificates, halting medical declarations for COVID-19 for entry, and not testing for COVID-19 before entry, thereby promoting communication and Vietnamese tourism in diverse forms, especially on digital platforms.

Domestically, there has been plenty of timely support measures implemented to ease difficulties and losses faced by both businesses and workers in the tourism industry and related fields, thereby helping the Vietnamese tourism market to gradually recover, especially domestic tourism. However, the number of international tourists remains limited compared to some countries in the region, PM Chinh pointed out.

He stated that the important event represents a prime opportunity for experts to make plans, raise good ideas and initiatives, and for the Government, ministries, sectors, agencies, and localities to come up with solutions which can remove difficulties and obstacles faced by the sector. This will help the quick recover and attract international tourists towards the development of a green and sustainable tourism industry moving forward.

On the basis of analysis and identification of causes, difficulties and challenges faced by the tourism industry both in the immediate and long term, it remains necessary to propose solutions and tasks in a bid to solve urgent problems, whilst also outlining directions for sustainable tourism development in the future.

In his remarks, Minister Hung said that over the past two years Vietnamese tourism has been the industry hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, the number of international visitors dropped by 80%, while the total revenue from the tourist sector fell by 59% over the same period. In 2021, the number of international visitors endured a decline of nearly 96%, leading to a dramatic plunge in the source of revenue.

As a result, many travel and hotel businesses have been forced to downsize their business, change industries, or even dissolve or go bankrupt.

A large number of workers have therefore been forced to change occupations as their life faced plenty of difficulties.

However, Vietnamese tourism development capacity index in 2021 still increased eight places compared to 2019, ranking 52nd, among the three countries with the highest improvement in the world.

Despite many measures aimed at boosting tourism recovery, the tourism industry has yet to attract many high-quality tourists, with the number of international tourists to the country only reaching about 42% of the set plan.