Tourism will soon return (Photo taken before the outbreak of COVID-19)
Travel business returning
On October 18, Vietravel Hue branch officially reopened after nearly 60 days of temporary closure due to the epidemic. Almost all employees of the branch have gone back to work. The office was also repaired and cleaned. Everyone showed joy on their faces.
An employee of Vietravel Hue branch expects that if it recurs like the SARS 2003 pandemic, the upcoming tourism will be a very strong "wave chain", after a period of repression. The COVID-19 pandemic creates significant and unprecedented challenges, for the first time in more than 10 years of working, tourism has the concept of "summer vacation". Now, we wake up to a new “vibrant” scene; a new normal period, ready to welcome the influx of domestic tourists at the end of the year and international visitors expected to arrive in 2022.
Not only Vietravel Hue branch but many other travel agencies also have new preparation steps for the upcoming recovery period. Surfing some fan pages of travel companies in the province, I'm really glad that many companies have promoted and sold tours again.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc An, Director of Hue Connecting Tourism Co., Ltd. shared that while waiting for domestic and international guests to return, tours at resorts in the province continue to be maintained for sale to tourists. Many tourists still choose to travel on-site to learn, discover and experience cultural, historical destinations, and landscape and new service in the area they are living. This has supported businesses and local community groups.
At this time, there is a very close connection between travel and resort, hotel and destination. They all want to "hold hands" to form a greater strength to overcome the difficult period and come back as well as possible.
Mr. Tran Thanh Tu, Vice Chairman of the Provincial Travel Association, said that despite not really being exciting, Hue tourism is being "warmed up" gradually in a short time. Currently, the association is planning to form new stimulating "alliance" based on visitors’ trends, at the same time, actively cooperates with localities, especially enterprises at both ends of the country to actively get the source tourists when domestic tourism returns.
The Provincial Tourism Association said that in the coming time, tourism activities cannot take place freely and spontaneously as before, but need a control; closed tours, "tourist bubbles", and conditions to operate have been different than before. Therefore, the role of travel agencies will be greater in building tour routes and operating tours to ensure safety.
Also in the coming time, when there is synchronization between localities, creating a "green area" for tourists, travel companies will pioneer, connect units together and build a plan to organize safety for each specific travel program.
There will be contingency plans when travel returns to the new normal state (Photo taken before the outbreak of COVID-19)
Preparing plans for risks
For tourist attractions in the whole province and hotels in the city center, on weekends, especially on the occasion of October 20, the number of guests using culinary and resort services increases significantly. This has partly helped resorts and hotels maintain operations, creating more motivation, perfect momentum for a more dynamic comeback in the coming time.
Azerai La Residence Hue Hotel said that in the past, the hotel paid little attention to domestic guests, but the pandemic had changed the market. The exploitation of breakfast and coffee service has attracted visitors over the past time. Particularly on October 20, the hotel had to refuse many groups of guests because of the great demand. Or at Alba Thanh Tan, since reopening on October 1, it has always welcomed a significant number of guests to have fun and relax, especially on weekends.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Binh, Chairman of the Provincial Accommodation Association, said that a stream of guests that is considered to "warm up" year-end accommodation activities are conference and seminar guests. Currently, hotels have had plans for service and promotion. Along with that is a safe solution, synchronous implementation of regulations, because conference and seminar guests will be quite crowded and have meeting in a narrow space.
In particular, many hotels have prepared the necessary conditions according to regulations to welcome guests with different forms, including medical supervision during the arrival time according to the regulations of the Ministry of Health and the Provincial Steering Committee for COVID-19 pandemic Prevention and Control.
The Department of Tourism orients that in the face of new happenings, the development trend of Thua Thien Hue tourism in the coming time is that the quality of tourism products and services will be focused on their appropriate completion and development; building a wide range of products and deploy them to respond instantly to the customer market in the new normal period.
Besides, diversifying and improving the quality of cultural tourism products, bringing many new or "renewed" products and services to put into operation; combining destinations of community-based tourism, eco-tourism with streams, waterfalls, sea and lagoons, and with experiencing traditional and contemporary art and culture space.
Story and photos: Duc Quang