At the question-and-answer session as part of the 14th session of the 15th National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on August 10, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung presented solutions to make tourism really become a spearhead economic sector, the management, conservation, renovation and promotion of the value of national historical relics, solutions to prevent the degradation of social ethics and behavioral culture.

Deputies Nguyen Hai Anh from the Mekong Delta Province of Dong Thap and Don Tuan Phong from the Mekong Delta Province of An Giang asked the head of the Culture, Sports and Tourism industry to talk about initiatives to support the tourism industry’s recovery and development in the context of unpredictable developments of the coronavirus pandemic, some countries are still not ready to open the tourism market and still restrict travel.

Deputy Tran Thi Hong Thanh from the Northern Province of Ninh Binh emphasized that Politburo’s Resolution No. 08 dated January 16, 2017, on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector.

The resolution also sets out eight groups of tasks and solutions, of which the financial policy has been determined to issue a policy to adjust the electricity price applied to tourist accommodation establishments equal to the price of producing electricity, appropriate policies on tax and land rent for tourism projects with low construction land use coefficient and height restriction.

However, up to now, this orientation has not been concretized into regulations for implementation.

It is said that tourism is reviving after the pandemic as more local tourists traveled while international visitors began to come. Mr. Hung said that the number of domestic tourists exceeded the target set for the year while the sector is striving to achieve the target for international visitors.

Untill now, compared to ASEAN countries, the number of visitors to Vietnam is not higher than some countries such as the Philippines, and Cambodia but lower than Thailand and Malaysia.

Mr. Hung said Vietnam should pay attention to its tourism traditional market, adding that 70 percent of international visitors to Vietnam are from China, followed by South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. The country is dependent on the Covid-19 prevention policies of these countries. Additionally, tourists’ spending should be taken into account.

Regarding solutions to support and promote the tourism industry, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that it takes time for travel businesses to reconnect with traditional customers. Related industries should create the most favorable conditions for visitors and provide the best quality tourism services.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung said that the Ministry has been strengthening the capacity of tourism training institutions in addition to international cooperation in human resource training for the tourism industry.

The Minister also proposed to the National Assembly and the Government to continue to prolong the application of policies to support employees, tax exemption and reduction, electricity bill exemption, and reduction for accommodation establishments.

According to him, the government should extend the implementation of these support policies until 2023 to help tourism businesses overcome difficulties caused by the pandemic.

Source: SGGP