NDO/VNA - The tourism sector is eager and confident to serve tourists again, building the image of Vietnam as a safe, friendly, hospitable destination for local residents and visitors.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, March 15 is a proper time to reopen tourism for foreign visitors, as Vietnam has so far nearly completed the injection of booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines for adults to reach herd immunity.

Particularly, in May, the country will host the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31), which will help attract more visitors to the country, especially those from ASEAN members.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said that analytical data from Google Destination Insights shows that international searches for information on Vietnam's tourism and aviation services began rising from early December and skyrocketed later the same month and in early January.

From the beginning of January, the volume of international searches for Vietnam’s aviation has remained very high. Notably, the increase rate hit 425 percent on January 21, and 374 percent on February 3 against the same period of 2021.

This is a motivation for the trave firms to eagerly wait for the reopening day and realise the sector’s target of welcoming 5 million foreign tourists in the year.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung reiterated the five viewpoints for tourism recovery and development in the new context, including stronger renovation compared to pre-pandemic period.

VNAT General Director Nguyen Trung Khanh underlined that improving tourism product quality and infrastructure system is key to enhance the competitiveness for Vietnamese tourism.

He cited statistics from the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) that favourable visa policies help increase foreign arrival number by 5-25 percent. Particularly, tourism visa exemption helps raise travelling demand by 16.6 percent.

A research from the Tourism Advisory Council (TAB) showed that visa exemption policy helped increase arrivals from the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy in Vietnam by 20 percent.

According to the VNAT, a seminar on reopening the tourism sector will be held in Quang Ninh on March 22, marking the revival of the sector in the new normal situation.

This year, domestic market is still considered the major market for the tourism sector. It also expects tourists from Northeast Asia, Europe, Australia, and India.

At a recent seminar, President of the Vietnam Travel Association Vu The Binh underlined that the best support to travel firms currently can come from favourable policies. He suggested resuming pre-pandemic visa policy for foreign arrivals.