DPM asks for preparations for reopening borders to foreign tourists

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam requires the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to join hands with other relevant agencies to make preparations for welcoming foreign visitors when all requirements are met.

Tourism is Viet Nam’s key economic sector, contributing 9.2% of the nation’s GDP and creating 4.5 million direct jobs and millions of indirect jobs. 

The industry, however, was battered by the COVID-19 pandemic with estimated revenue loss of around US$7.7 billion between February and April this year, according to the Viet Nam Tourism Administration.

As the country has gone 55 straight days with no new COVID-19 infection in the community while the pandemic is still evolving complicatedly around the world, the resumption of inbound tourism should be taken into account seriously in order to achieve the dual goal of containing the pandemic and rebooting the economy. 

From that perspective, Deputy PM Dam ordered drastic prevention of external transmission sources domestic safety and stability for development.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism was assigned to organize a national-level tourism conference early August 2020. 

Last year, the Southeast Asian country greeted more than 18 million international arrivals, or a record annual increase of 16.2%, reported the General Statistics Office.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign arrivals plummeted by 48.8% to 3.73 million in the first five months this year, official data showed.

By Thuy Dung