The first six months of the year were a tough period for the area's localities as well as other cities as tourism was seriously affected.

The HCM City Tourism Department said that domestic tourism must be the focus now as the international market has not been restored.

Some of the 13 programs listed in a cooperation agreement recently signed by 14 localities have been implemented and have shown initial results.

In May and June, more than 500,000 travelers booked tours to Mekong Delta’s cities and provinces at large travel firms in HCM City.

Nguyen Huu Tho, chair of the Vietnam Tourism Association, said that local authorities need to focus on building tourism products, promoting tourism, and preparing a labor force.

“It is necessary to do whatever to make every person want to travel somewhere in Vietnam," he said.

The total number of travelers in H1 was 9.4 million, a sharp fall of 54.7 percent compared with the same period last year. This included 1.3 million foreign travelers to HCM City, a decrease of 69.3 percent.

Bui Ta Hoang Vu, director of the HCM City Tourism Department, said the number of travelers and tourism revenue dropped dramatically in recent months.

The poor performance of the tourism sector in Q1 and the slow recovery in Q2 have had a negative impact on the GRDP of every city and province.

The total number of travelers in H1 was 9.4 million, a sharp fall of 54.7 percent compared with the same period last year. This included 1.3 million foreign travelers to HCM City, a decrease of 69.3 percent.

Meanwhile, domestic travelers to HCM City just accounted for 8.1 percent only, a decrease of 50.9 percent, and the total revenue from tourism in H1 was VND34.099 trillion, down by 49.6 percent.

The same situation was seen in Mekong Delta provinces which received only 12.9 million travelers, a decrease of 51 percent compared with the same period last year.

Of this, eastern Mekong Delta cities/provinces (Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Long An, Vinh Long and Tra Vinh) received 436,890 foreign travelers, a decrease of 41.6 percent, and 2.7 million Vietnamese travelers, a fall of 48.3 percent.

About 289,810 foreign travelers came to western Mekong Delta provinces (Soc Trang, Can Tho, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, An Giang, Kien Giang and Hau Giang), the same as last year. The figure was 9.6 million for domestic travelers.

The domestic market is believed to be the major driving force for the recovery after the Covid-19 crisis and experts belileve that if there are attractive demand stimulus programs, the market will need only several months to recover.

Kim Chi

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