In Vietnam, national holidays when all businesses and government offices close is the biggest festival in the annual calendar. This prompts a mass exodus of travellers from cities mainly for family reunions, providing a massive boost for domestic tourism.
The government also approved four days off for the 2021 National Day, 2 to 5 September 2021. By that time, officials are confident that international tourism should be back and Vietnamese will travel overseas to their favourite destinations in Asia. Meanwhile, the government has confirmed the country’s tourism sector will lose up to $23 billion in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with foreign tourist arrivals plunging by over 80% this year.
Now that the pandemic is in control for nearly three months, the Vietnamese government said it would make every effort to pursue the dual goals of pandemic containment and economic recovery. The national conference on tourism is part of the government’s measures to reboot tourism development to be ready for a ‘new normal’ situation.
Tourism contributes about 6% of the country’s GDP. Inbound tourism grew 22.7% annually on average in the 2015-2019 period, from $7.9 million to $18 million. Vietnam is ranked 63rd among 140 countries and territories on the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2019, up 12 places from 2015.
Blogs
