The ministry should coordinate with core travel firms to form key routes connecting localities, the official said at a meeting of the State Steering Committee for Tourism in Hanoi which assessed the implementation of tourism recovery solutions.
He ordered restarting heritage digitalization with the participation of travel enterprises to promote new tourism products.
Regarding electricity prices for tourism services and lodging facilities, Dam, also head of the Committee, asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to submit a plan on power price adjustment to the Prime Minister before application.
The MCST, travel associations and firms should propose specific tax and land incentives, he said.
Minister Nguyen Van Hung reported that since early this year, the sector served nearly 72 million domestic tourists and 733,000 foreign visitors, raking in about VND 316 trillion (USD 13.5 billion).
The number of new travel firms and those resuming their operation reached 3,623, both domestic and foreign, and up to 90% of lodging facilities restored operation.
However, the minister said, the domestic tourism sector has been facing the pressure of rising service prices, a staffing crunch for lodging facilities and services, and the competition in visa granting, among other obstacles.
Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh stressed that to ensure sustainable tourism recovery post COVID-19, measures, including personnel training, should be taken to ramp up international tourism.
Regarding the implementation of the Politburo’s Resolution No. 08-NQ-TW on developing tourism into an economic spearhead and the Government’s Resolution No. 103/NQ-CP on the action program deploying Resolution No.08, Hung emphasized the need to remove obstacles to exit-entry, transit and stay of foreign visitors.
The key to attracting foreign holiday-makers lies with facilitating e-visa issuance, the minister said.
The Ministry of Public Security said it granted e-visas to citizens from 80 countries and territories and offered visas exemption to travelers from 25 others.
Source: VNA