The number of tourists to Da Nang in August and the following months tends to decrease because the summer vacation is coming to an end, at the same time, the Covid-19 situation is gradually increasing again, causing people’s anxiety.

This is the statement of the Da Nang Statistical Office in the 8-month socio-economic report just published. Tourism businesses also have the same opinion with the above statement.

After the exciting summer tourist season, Da Nang tourism is in danger of falling into silence for many months when it comes to the low season for domestic tourism, in addition, international tourism has not recovered as expected. Photo: Nhan Tam

According to this agency, many outstanding events held in the past time to attract and promote Da Nang tourism products to domestic and foreign tourists have significantly contributed to the tourism industry’s revenue in the past 8 months early 2022, revived a series of hotel and restaurant chains after a long period of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of domestic and foreign tourists to Da Nang during this period increased sharply over the same period.

However, only in August 2022, almost all indexes started to decline. Specifically, the revenue of accommodation and food services was estimated at VND 2,020 billion, down 3.5% compared to the previous month (July 2022) and up 459.1% compared to the same period in 2021 – the time of Da Nang applies a hard blockade to prevent epidemics.

In which, revenue from accommodation activities was estimated at VND 753 billion, down 4.1% over the previous month, nearly 25.7 times higher than the same period last year; food service revenue is estimated at 1,267 billion VND, down 3.2% compared to the previous month and up 281.6% over the same period in 2021. The number of guests served by accommodation establishments in August 2022 is estimated at 491,700 turns, down 2.4% from the previous month and 26.6 times higher than the same period in 2021.

According to the Da Nang Department of Statistics, these numbers will continue to decrease in the following months because the summer vacation is about to end, and the Covid-19 situation is gradually increasing again, causing people’s anxiety.

“Visitors to Da Nang began to gradually decrease, down 30-50% compared to the peak summer season. The number of bookings in August decreased a lot,” said Cao Van Trung Vuong, director of Kingdom Tourist, adding that in September his company operated moderately to welcome groups of guests who are friends, especially the young, in the context of family group visitors almost no more. At the same time, he considers September and October as the time to train human resources to prepare for the tourist season at the end of the year and the beginning of next year.

Representatives of some hotels with a large number of rooms in Da Nang city center also agreed that domestic tourism in Da Nang has begun in the low season. They also don’t expect much on this September 2 holiday when they have recorded very modest bookings so far. “When the beachfront hotels run out of rooms, we hope to fill the room capacity. If they only reach 60-70% capacity, the opportunity for hotels in the city center is very little,” said a general manager of the hotel.

According to tourism businesses, from mid-late August to September, domestic tourists began to decrease, which is the general situation in not only Da Nang but many tourist destinations across the country. Before the epidemic, businesses considered this to be a time of rest (the peak time for domestic tourists) to prepare human resources, products and services to serve the international tourist season at the end of the year.

Training human resources to welcome tourism at the end of the year and next year is a challenge for many businesses. Photo: Nhan Tam

However, at present, with the complicated situation of the epidemic, the main tourist markets of Da Nang (Korea, China, Taiwan or Japan) are still tightening epidemic prevention policies. Da Nang tourism industry can hardly attract many international visitors. In that context, businesses expect the number of visitors from India, Thailand and Malaysia in October and November after the promotion period.

Another obstacle is also noted, especially for 4-star hotels and above, is the lack of qualified human resources in tourism, fluent in foreign languages. The cause of this shortage is that after the Covid-19 pandemic, most qualified human resources are looking for stable and long-term jobs to ensure their lives.

@ Saigon Tiep Thi