After half a year of stagnation, travel businesses will welcome the first Russian delegations to Vietnam for tourism and relaxation.
Talking to Zing, Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, Director of Khanh Hoa Tourism Department, said that she is coordinating with businesses to expedite procedures to bring Russian tourists back to Nha Trang.
“This is the event that tourism industry has been waiting for a long time. Partly because of the epidemic and conflict caused the source of visitors from the Russian market to be interrupted, businesses faced difficulties. The return of Russian tourists will bring a breakthrough to tourism industry at the end of year,” said Ms. Thanh.
2 flights per week from Russia
Nguyen Duc Tan, General Director of Anex Vietnam Trading & Tourism Co., Ltd (Anex Vietnam) – a unit specializing in welcoming Russian guests in Vietnam – said that the business has sent a notice to Khanh Hoa Tourism Department about welcoming Russia tourists returned to Vietnam and Nha Trang in October.
Russia is still an important market for Vietnam’s tourism industry. Photo: Xuan Hoat.
General Director of Anex Vietnam said that from October 25, flights will start bringing Russian tourists to Nha Trang. “In the first phase, we plan to have four trips and return each week with about 800 guests. Each group will stay for 7-28 days at 3-5 hotel and resort facilities,” said Mr. Tan.
After the epidemic, a few travel agencies brought Russian tourists to Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa to relax. However, due to the conflict, from March the flights bringing Russian tourists to Vietnam were interrupted.
Besides Anex Vietnam, Pegas Misr Vietnam Travel Co., Ltd is also planning to organize flights to bring Russian tourists to Khanh Hoa in the near future.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh said that Russia is the second largest international tourist market of Khanh Hoa tourism, after China. The fact that businesses bring Russian tourists to Khanh Hoa will “warm up” tourism in Agarwood at the end of the year.
“It is the low season for tourism, so the return of Russian tourists will be a bright spot for the local tourism industry. After the Russian market, there will certainly be more groups of tourists from Korea, Taiwan… coming back to Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa,” said Ms. Thanh.
Tourists from Russia and Eastern Europe have been the main tourist stream of Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa tourism in recent years, just after the Chinese market. In 2019, this locality welcomed 463,000 Russian visitors, accounting for more than 70% of Russian visitors to Vietnam.
Many people are optimistic when Russian guests return to Vietnam on this occasion. They believe that it is golden time to restart one of the important traditional tourist market of Vietnam’s tourism industry.
The European Union (EU) has just agreed to suspend a 2007 travel agreement with Moscow (Russia). This agreement used to make it easier for Russians to get visas. With the above suspension decision, it becomes difficult and expensive for Russian citizens to go to Europe because of stricter regulations.
“The tightening of regulations after the EU suspended its agreement with Russia dating back to 2007 in some respects will be a very good condition for Vietnam to promote and restart the flow of Russian tourists,” Luong Nguyen Khac, Director of a Russian travel agency, said.
According to Khac, statistics show that after the agreement was suspended, Russian travel companies saw a decrease in the number of Russian tourists booking tickets to Europe.
According to data from the travel analytics company ForwardKeys, EU countries such as Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Greece have always been among the top 20 most booked destinations by Russian tourists.
However, this number has dropped rapidly. Olivier Ponti, a representative of ForwardKeys, said that the number of Russian air travel to Europe in the summer is only 26% compared to 2019.
Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa is trying to bring new tourism products to serve tourists at the end of the year. Photo: Xuan Hoat.
Khanh Hoa tourism earns nearly 11,000 billion VND
Statistics of Khanh Hoa Department of Tourism show that in the first 9 months of the year, the total number of tourists staying in tourism was estimated at 280,000, an increase of 70.6 times over the same period. International visitors are estimated at 40,000 arrivals, an increase of 195.1 times over the same period; Domestic tourists are estimated at 240,000 arrivals, an increase of 63.8 times.
“In the first nine months of the year, Khanh Hoa’s tourism revenue is estimated at nearly 10,800 billion VND, exceeding 170% of the plan,” said Ms. Thanh.
According to Ms. Thanh, at the end of the year, the locality will promote promotion, at the same time embellish and upgrade facilities, and the sites will also invest in new tourism products to serve tourists.
@ Zing News
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Source: Vietnam Insider