Hanoi (VNA) –The Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) 2020, themed “Vietnamese tourismlooks toward the future,” is slated for August 12-15 in Hanoi.

Activities within thefair aim to encourage the sector to overcome difficulties caused by COVID-19 tobecome an economic spearhead.

Speaking at a pressconference in Hanoi on July 9, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism AssociationVu The Binh said organisers encourage participating firms and organisations to raiseinitiatives in tourism management and business, in combination with technologicalapplication.

Apart from domesticcompanies and agencies, this year’s event is expected to welcome foreign firmsand offices based in Vietnam, with those from Colombia to join for thefirst time.

About 10,000 air ticketsand 5,000 budget tours are set to be put for sale during the fair.

There will be a forumon Vietnamese tourism with the participation of tech and tourism experts fromGoogle and Booking.com, along with the VITM Marathon to be held online fromJuly 31 to August 9 with the aim of connecting the Vietnamese tourismcommunity.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought down the number of foreign visitors toVietnam to close to 3.7 million in the first half of the year, a 57 percentdecline year-on-year. 
According to the Vietnam National Administration ofTourism (VNAT),domestic tourists also fell by nearly 50 percent to 23 million.Average occupancy at lodging facilities was about 20 percent.

Tourism revenue was estimated to tumble 48 percentyear-on-year to 176.8 trillion VND (7.6 billion USD).

VNAT reported that the pandemic forced 95 percent of travelcompanies nationwide to cease operations during the first half, with a largenumber of people losing their jobs as a result.

To give the sector a much-needed boost, at the beginning ofMay the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched the “Vietnamese peopletravel in Vietnam” campaign, which has been very much welcomed by localitiesand companies around the country. 

Two months on, the number of domestic flights has recoveredwhile a number of new routes have been launched. Occupancy has increased to50-60 percent on weekdays and to 80-90 percent on weekends. The number ofdomestic travellers in June totalled 7 million, a 2.3-fold rise against May.

At a conference reviewing the sector’s performance in thefirst half, Ministerof Culture, Sports andTourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien urged the implementation of drastic measures tostimulate domestic tourism.

He also required that VNAT make preparation to resumeinternational tourism activities once this is allowed./.