Visitors at Nguyen Hue pedestrian street in downtown HCM City. (Photo: VNA) Upcoming opportunities includeinvesting in domestic travel, new tourism products, high-qualityhuman resources, digitalisation in tourism, and infrastructureto help the country shine on both the local and international stage, localand international tourism industry leaders said at a roundtable organisedby RMIT University on January 20.
Promoting domestic tourism andbuilding smart tourism are the major objectives of the city’s tourism sector thisyear, said Le Truong Hien Hoa, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City TourismPromotion Centre.
“One of the main focuses ofcity tourism this year is deploying joint programmes with keyeconomic zones and provinces as well as tourism industries to build newtourism products and services to promote domestic tourism,” Hoa said.
“With a low inflow ofinternational tourists to the country, it is also a good time for the cityto implement its smart tourism project.”
“Our tourism database isplaying a key role to ensure a successful smart tourism project whichneeds to involve many industries and fields in standardising the datacollection system and digitising of travel services.”
Tran Thuy Trang, deputy managerof Vietravel’s inbound department, said that Vietnam shouldpromote the country as a safe and attractive destination in theworld.
“Not only businesses in thetourism and hospitality industry, but also the Government needs toshowcase and promote the image of Vietnam as a safe destination so that wecan increase international tourists once the country borders reopen and travelnormalises,” Trang said.
Dr Nuno Ribeiro, tourism andhospitality management senior lecturer and research cluster lead at RMITUniversity, said: “We are already seeing positive signs of these efforts with avery dynamic domestic tourism market, and the Government’s initiatives havebeen extremely successful in generating more demand for internal travel whilemaintaining rigorous health and safety standards.”
“I am certain that Vietnam willbecome one of the leading tourism destinations, not just in Southeast Asia butin the world,” Ribeiro said.
The Grand Ho Tram Hotel andCasino chief operating officer Craig Douglas stressed the importance ofhigh-quality human resources development post-pandemic.
“With several projects stillmoving forward in the country, not only in the tourism industry butalso in other industries, and the relocation of international manufacturingcompanies to Vietnam, the demand for human resources will be a big challengeand reinforce that our people are the most valuable asset,” Douglassaid./.
VNA
