General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Trung Khanh says Vietnam has successfully reopened international tourism, and has been recognized by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) as the first Southeast Asian country that removed travel restrictions in the post-Covid period.

Vietnam received 1.65 million international arrivals in the first nine months of the year, served 86.8 million domestic travelers, and had revenue of $16.5 billion. 

The figures, released at the Mekong Tourism Forum 2022 last week, showed the strong recovery of tourism with the number of domestic travelers in January-September 2022 exceeding that of 2019. 

Vietnam welcomed 110,000 travelers from the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

However, Khanh was cautious about the future, citing challenges, including  fuel price increase, high inflation and global supply chain interruption. These will increase transport and accommodation costs.

“The parties involved at all scales are encouraged to take full advantage of digital tools to support the recovery and sustainability of the tourism sector, as well as improve the capability of the industry through training programs,” he added.

At the forum, speakers from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam shared the best solutions on taking full advantage of digital tools to optimize the positive impact of tourism on the environment and local community. 

They also talked about challenges, solutions and opportunities for micro and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to better apply technologies and integrate into the digital economy.

Wouterus Schalken from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that GMS countries should ensure the recovery and sustainability of tourism, with focus on high-quality infrastructure and nature-based solutions.

PATA’s (the Pacific Asia Travel Association) managing director Liz Ortiguera suggested that in the post-pandemic period, the tourism industry needs to be more sustainable. 

Nguyen Hien