Businesses are applying the “half-day resort” approach to suit their new consumers’ needs
Good preparations
Mr. Nguyễn Văn Phúc, Vice President of Hue Department of Tourism, claimed that COVID-19 has been kept under control in the province; concurrently, in the regions affected by the pandemic, the virus has been pinpointed and dealt with successfully. Due to this, from this moment onwards, the requirements for Hue’s tourism industry is to have the necessary preparations to welcome back visitors in the safest manner.
Currently, worries surrounding the pandemic have still affected tourists’ traveling needs. The new information on tourism forums has shown that the industry is gradually regaining its speed with many tourists making trip bookings to Hue in September.
“Tourist destinations in the area have received bookings in the Independence Day holiday. Therefore, the Department has specific requirements for businesses to ensure the best service possible,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc.
With intentions to be up to date, to lessen the burdens, and to motivate businesses to be ready for visitors’ arrival. On the 25th of August, leaders in the tourism industry made inspections and surveys at the accomodation facilities. Information gathered from the places has shown that the number of travelers has decreased drastically, with many divisions going through massive laid-offs in their workforce and significant decrease in annual salaries; these have affected the lives of countless workers in the process.
To share with the tourism industry’s ongoing difficulties, leaders of Hue Department of Tourism have been motivating businesses to overcome these unprecedented challenging times, to ensure the fundamental labor rights of workers, while also to employ the safety regulations for disease prevention, especially in health declarations for tourists.
According to the Department, tourists have not been allowed to arrive in Hue on-road, while many airlines are decreasing their flight numbers. Therefore, the tourism industry is focusing on inciting tourists travelling by trains.
Visitors from both ends of the country are able to travel straight to COVID-19-free areas, in which Hue is one of them. Recently, there have been plans to arrange transportations for visitors from Ha Noi to Hue.
Alongside with welcoming visitors to Hue, businesses have claimed that they are ready to provide guests staying in Hue to travel to other areas. Nguyen Ngoc An, CEO of Connect Travel Hue, shared that he has been in contact with customers who canceled their tours in August. The positive outcome is that most customers plan to re-book to support tourism businesses once the safety requirements are met.
Attracting in-province tourists
From the 21st of August, Alba Thanh Tan Hot Springs Resort is returning to operation even though with not many guests. At other resorts, bookings have primarily come from within the province.
Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc claimed that Hue’s tourism industry recovery process is focused primarily on provincial guests since they know well the overall situations of the destinations in the area and, to some extent, domestic tourists. The resorts are relatively far apart to provide customers with a variety of options. To ensure health regulations are met, guests are asked to travel in small groups or families.
“Hue’s tourism industry will continue to employ the stimulus program ‘Hue citizens travel wherever in Hue’ The Department plans to connect with tourist destinations and businesses to form new stimulus packages to attract citizens to travel such as what happened from April to July 2020. If the policies are implemented effectively, meeting tourists’ needs, then Huế tourism will soon overcome these trying times,” stated the leader of Hue Department of Tourism
Accommodations businesses and resorts stated that they intend to implement an additional entertainment and relaxation within-the-day service along with the current ones. For example, guests can use pool services and relax for half of the day with a light meal and an afternoon tea break. The target guests are families and young customers during the weekends. “Due to the ongoing pandemic, customers are spending more carefully, but there is still a need for relaxation and entertainment. For that reason, the new format is a solution suitable for the current situation,” said an accommodation inn owner.
According to the Department of Tourism leader, due to the unpredictable and ever-changing situation regarding the pandemic, tourism’s development is best described as a V-shape: Going down if the pandemic is on the rise and going up when it’s under control. The tourism industry is requested to be proactive when faced with new situations, especially being flexible in providing the appropriate services.
Story and photo: Duc Quang