To revive the tourism industry in the post Covid-19 period, many local tour operators, hotels and transportation providers are joining hands to offer promotions, building new and unique products to attract tourists. 

Many tourism enterprises are jointly building new and unique products to attract tourists. Photo: Tony Bac

New and unique products

Many tour operators have created and deployed new packages. Flamingo Redtours has launched four domestic tours with discounts of up to 30-50%. The tour operator has cooperated with other travel businesses, airlines, 4-star hotels and transportation providers to build the packages with high quality accommodation and competitive prices, according to CEO of the company Nguyen Cong Hoan.

Meanwhile, Vietravel Hanoi branch is deploying its products “Vietnam – Say Hello to a New Day” with a 50% discount, Deputy Director Nguyen Van Bay told Kinh the & Do thi.

From the beginning of May, Hanoitourist Travel Company has also introduced tours with reasonable prices of VND4-5 million (US$172-US$215) per visitor to central provinces.

To stimulate demand post Covid-19, Hanoi has cooperated with a number of provinces and cities such as Nghe An, Quang Binh, and Lai Chau to implement stimulus programs, according to Deputy Director of Hanoi’s Tourism of Department Tran Trung Hieu.

Especially, many provinces have also attracted tourists with incentive programs and the introduction of new destinations. A typical example is the Sapa program with a discount of 30-60% on hotel rooms, car and entrance tickets until September 30. 

Some historical and cultural sites have also reduced 50% of the entrance ticket in Quang Ninh, Hue, Danang and Quang Nam provinces.

Transporters in four provinces including Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Gia Lai, and Dak Lak pledged to offer price discounts of 10-40% for transportation services.

Compared to previous years, the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam in 2020 is poised to plunge due to the health crisis, according to Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Ha Van Sieu. However, many localities and businesses have launched a number of programs including the exemption and reduction of entrance tickets and transportation costs to stimulate travel. 

Some places of interests have even been overcrowded, Sieu added. “This is a motivation for tourism companies to build and introduce stimulus products in post-Covid-19 tourism,” he told Kinh te & Do thi.

Focusing on regional tours

Bac Lieu province. Photo: Vietnam Travel's facebook

After two months of the reopening of destinations, tourism activities have revived, the number of tourists has increased again. According to the VNAT, in May and June, occupancy rates for accommodation rooms increased by 50-60% in week days and 80-90% on weekends. The number of domestic tourists in June reached 7 million, an increase of 2.3 times compared to May.

With the revival, the tourism industry aims that from now to the end of the year, the number of domestic tourists will reach about 70-80% of that in the same period last year. However, to achieve this goal, it requires local businesses and localities to offer tour packages which are not only "unique" but also at reasonable costs. 

Besides new products being put into service, including a night tour at the Hoa Lo Prison and the Imperial Citadel of Thanh Long - Hanoi, Hanoitourist is working on experience tours from Hoa Lu ancient capital (Ninh Binh) to Hanoi. It will thereby help visitors better understand the process of moving the country's capital taking place a millennium ago, towards the celebration of the 1010th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi, according to Director of Hanoitourist Phung Quang Thang.

In order to attract tourists to Hanoi, besides offering discounts, in July, the city’s tour operators would not only upgrade the existing city tours but also continue to create five to seven new travel packages focusing on typical historical and cultural relics of Hanoi. The tours will be expected to be unique and bring new experiences for visitors, Hieu from Hanoi’s Tourism of Department said.