A corner of Phu Quoc. (Source: VNA) Data from Kien Giang's Department of Tourism showed thatthe Mekong Delta province received nearly 1.6 million visitors in the firstquarter of 2022, up 31.1 percent from the same period last year. Of the figure,over 1.1 million, including more than 26,000 foreigners, travelled to Phu Quoc,a year-on-year increase of 33.9 percent.
As many as 1,282 foreign vacationers from the Republic of Korea,Laos, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Thailand have arrived in Phu Quoc using “vaccinepassports” since the scheme started its pilot in Vietnam last November.
Now with the full reopening, the island expects to see evenmore visitors. On March 19, it welcomed the first inbound flight, carrying 235tourists from Kazakhstan who stayed for a week, after all travel restrictions werelifted.
Le Trung Truc, a manager at Sunset Sanato Resort and Villasin Phu Quoc, said the occupancy rate hit 95 percent on the first week after thereopening. During the weekend from March 18 – 20, the resort was fully booked,he said.
Director of the Kien Giang Department of Tourism Bui QuocThai also attributed the spikes in tourist arrivals to the province's high vaccination rate,saying it has paved the way for the recovery of the tourism activities.
Nonetheless, the tourism rebound is clouded by a lack ofmanpower as a large number of tourism workers have been forced to leave theirjobs and return home due to months-long COVID-19 shutdown.
The occupancy rate reached 65 percent on the first week atKim Hoa Resort, manager Bui Ang Van said, but the problem now is labourshortage after COVID-19. He unveiled that the resort has been able to fill just50 percent of the positions compared to the pre-pandemic level so far.
More policies need to be added to support the developmentand standardization of the tourism workforce, Van suggested, adding that theMinistry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs should set the scene forvocational schools to cooperate with local authorities and businesses to openshort-term training courses to share experience and enhance capacity fortourism workers.
This year, the province eyes to serve about 5.6 millionvisitors, including 200,000 foreigners./.
Now with the full reopening, the island expects to see evenmore visitors. On March 19, it welcomed the first inbound flight, carrying 235tourists from Kazakhstan who stayed for a week, after all travel restrictions werelifted.
Le Trung Truc, a manager at Sunset Sanato Resort and Villasin Phu Quoc, said the occupancy rate hit 95 percent on the first week after thereopening. During the weekend from March 18 – 20, the resort was fully booked,he said.
Director of the Kien Giang Department of Tourism Bui QuocThai also attributed the spikes in tourist arrivals to the province's high vaccination rate,saying it has paved the way for the recovery of the tourism activities.
Nonetheless, the tourism rebound is clouded by a lack ofmanpower as a large number of tourism workers have been forced to leave theirjobs and return home due to months-long COVID-19 shutdown.
The occupancy rate reached 65 percent on the first week atKim Hoa Resort, manager Bui Ang Van said, but the problem now is labourshortage after COVID-19. He unveiled that the resort has been able to fill just50 percent of the positions compared to the pre-pandemic level so far.
More policies need to be added to support the developmentand standardization of the tourism workforce, Van suggested, adding that theMinistry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs should set the scene forvocational schools to cooperate with local authorities and businesses to openshort-term training courses to share experience and enhance capacity fortourism workers.
This year, the province eyes to serve about 5.6 millionvisitors, including 200,000 foreigners./.
VNA
