Hanoi (VNA)  𒈔- The domestic tourism sector has affirmed its high determination to recover the domestic market with the biggest roundtable forum on tourism of the year, which drew the participation of representatives from over 600 travel firms and management agencies nationwide.

The national domestic tourism forum, themed 'Domestic Tourism - Power Force for Recovering Vietnam's Tourism in the New Normal Situation', was held in the northern province of Ninh Binh on April 15 to discuss ways to stimulate domestic tourism demand. Speaking at the event, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung underlined the key role played by domestic tourism in the “new normal” context.

High determination to revive “non-smoke” industry

The tourism sector shows its high determination to revive the “non-smoke” industry through organising the event. The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the world for over a year. The global economy is in its worst recession ever. In Vietnam, the tourism and aviation sectors have been hardest hit by the health crisis, with tens of thousands of businesses going bankrupt or ceasing their operations. Vu The Binh, Vice Permanent Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, said promoting domestic tourism is the lifebuoy for the whole sector at present. “However, domestic tourism has never been considered a main power force of the sector; as a result, it has not been properly cared for,” he said. “Tourism enterprises have not defined clearly the demands, interests, and products and services that Vietnamese people like, which is a weak point of the sector.”, he noted. Participants focused their discussion on the role and importance of domestic  tourism in the “ new normal” situation, and macro policies for domestic tourism development. They also proposed solutions for building and diversifying tourism products, domestic tourism promotion activities, training human resources and accelerating digital transformation in tourism businesses.

High time for tourism industry to find new approaches

Minister Hung said its is high time for the whole sector to review what have been done, find new approaches, change the methods as well as the way of thinking among tourism workers to revive the tourism market. The Vietnamese tourism sector should focus on the domestic market of nearly 100 million Vietnamese people who like to go on holidays as the pandemic is under control, he said. The minister suggested tourism companies introduce more products suitable for domestic customers. Statistics show that Vietnam served only 16.5 million tourists in the first quarter of 2021, earning 72 trillion VND (over 3.14 billion USD), down 50 percent year-on-year. The first solution that tourism businesses, especially travel agencies, need to do is to restructure soon and take measures to manage their human resources, Minister Hung said. He also underlined the need to survey the domestic market, thus developing products suitable for domestic travellers, adding attention should be paid to strengthening promotion activities and building brands for products. It is necessary for localities and companies promote coordination to offer more fresh products and develop sustainable tourism, he went on. The event hosted various signing ceremonies between Ninh Binh province’s authorities, the Ninh Binh Tourism Department, Ninh Binh Tourism Association and Xuan Truong Construction Enterprise and various agencies and localities including Vietnam Airlines, the Vietnam Tourism Association, the HCM City Tourism Association, authorities of Da Nang City and Can Tho City and the Vietnam MICE Tourism Club. The forum is the opening activity of the annual Vietnam Travel Mart (VITM) 2021, which will take place in Hanoi on May 5-8./.