Ha Long Bay

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), domestic tourists also fell in number, by nearly 50 percent to 23 million. Average occupancy at lodging facilities was about 20 percent.

Tourism revenue was estimated to have tumbled 48 percent year-on-year to 176.8 trillion VND (7.6 billion USD).

VNAT reported that the pandemic forced 95 percent of travel companies nationwide to cease operations during the first half, with a large number of people losing their jobs as a result.

To give the sector a much-needed boost, at the beginning of May the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched the “Vietnamese people travel in Vietnam” campaign, which has been very much welcomed by localities and companies around the country.

Two months on, the number of domestic flights has recovered while a number of new routes have been launched. Occupancy has increased to 50-60 percent on weekdays and to 80-90 percent on weekends. The number of domestic travellers in June totalled 7 million, a 2.3-fold rise against May.

At a conference reviewing the sector’s performance in the first half, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien urged the implementation of drastic measures to stimulate domestic tourism.

He also required that VNAT make preparation to resume international tourism activities once this is allowed./.VNA

Patience the name of the game for tourism industry

Tourism has been one of the industries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic across the world and Vietnam is no exception, with foreign tourist arrivals and tourism revenue falling by more than 50 per cent in the first half of this year.

The worst is yet to come for Vietnam's tourism

Vietnam may have seen an over 50% decline in the number of tourist arrivals over the past five months due to Covid-19 but the situation is only expected to worsen, as the crisis has been forecast to reach its peak in the next few months,