The localities are ready

Waiting, eagerness and expectation are common sentiments of tourism guides in localities in the province because they will be able to welcome foreign tourists back after more than 2 years. The localities are well-prepared to enter the recovery and development phase.

On February 25, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism sent a written request to the People's Committees of localities and tourism service businesses in the area to implement Document No. 465 of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on pilot guidance to welcome foreign tourists in phase 2. Along with that, the department advised the People's Committee of the province on the plan to recover tourism to adapt to ensure safety of prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022.

At present, Sa Pa National Tourist area is ready to welcome foreign tourists. The past 2 years have been a long time for the localities and business establishments to prepare facilities, human and "rehearse" plans to welcome guests in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sa Pa town has also issued the plan to organize a 5-season festival in 2022 with the highlight of 31 cultural, sports and tourism events, typical products associated with the country's outstanding culture and local tourism resources; establishing Sa Pa tourism brand identity; strengthening the state management in the field of tourism, at the same time propagating and mobilizing the people at community tourism sites to clean the environment and regenerate the landscape…

Ms. Hoang Thi Vuong, Manager of the Department of Culture and Information of Sa Pa town said: From the second quarter, Sa Pa's tourism will have many flourishes, the complete opening of tourism activities will create favorable conditions for Sapa to connect the source of visitors with the localities and countries.

In addition to Sa Pa town, Bac Ha district was also a destination for foreign tourists before the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, Bac Ha welcomed 480,000 tourists, including about 210,000 foreign tourists. The number of foreign tourists to Bac Ha has increased year by year, so the district is looking forward to the opportunity to welcome foreign tourists back after March 15.

Bac Ha district has developed the strategic framework for tourism development to 2025, with a vision to 2030 and 2050. Particularly in 2022, the district has developed and issued the plan to recover and stimulate tourism activities with 14 activities, cultural events, and special tourism by each month. In particular, the local tourism industry has also developed the process instruction of handling F0 guests while visiting or using tourism services in Bac Ha district, instructing business establishments and tourism spots to promptly respond…

In the past 2 years, infrastructure for tourism has been upgraded and renovated by Bac Ha district; many accommodation establishments have upgraded their quality from 2 to 3 stars and have been waiting for professional agencies to appraise, evaluate and recognize them. Although over the past 2 years, the pandemic has greatly affected, the number of homestays in the area have still developed strongly. In 2019, the whole district had only 40 homestays, so far there have been 50 homestays (accounting for 62% of the total number of accommodation establishments). In addition to 10 newly invested homestays, other homestay owners have also upgraded and renovated to serve visitors.

“In the direction of tourism development, Bac Ha district still determines that attracting foreign tourists is the key task. We are ready and looking forward for foreign tourists to return to the white plateau,” said Mr. Bui Van Vinh, Manager of Department of Culture and Information of Bac Ha district.

Early assessment of the market, developing the tours and routes, preparing marketing activities towards international markets, launching attractive incentive programs, etc. are the strategies of the companies, enterprises and units in the field of travel and tourism at the present time to "break the ice" for foreign tourists.

Bac Ha is ready to welcome foreign tourists.

In response to the policy of safe and flexible adaptation to the Covid-19 pandemic and the full opening of tourism after March 15, Topas Explore Group - the owner of the Topas Ecolodge brand in Thanh Binh commune (Sa Pa town) - has marketed towards Asian markets such as Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong (China)... as well as some key markets in Europe and America. Over the past 2 years, Topas Ecolodge has taken advantage of upgrading facilities and utilities.

Despite early preparation, Topas Ecolodge is still cautious about welcoming foreign tourists, because the policy still needs to be specific.

Sapa attracts tourists thanks to its rich tourism resources

As the travel agency, Dreamsky Travel has also soon prepared to seize the opportunity to recover. Preparing human resources, completing tourism programs, diversifying products, aiming to exploit green tourism products, closed tours ... are the strategy that  Dreamsky Travel has pursued. Mr. Phan Van Tien, Director of Dreamsky Travel Co., Ltd. expects: The Government's agreement to completely open tourism is a good sign for the "smokeless industry" to gradually recover. With flexible and preferential policies, we believe that the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam in the near future will soon increase rapidly.

The return of foreign tourists has both met expectations and created motivation for Lao Cai tourism to recover and flourish in 2022.