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Is Vietnam ready to welcome tourists back? Assessing COVID-19’s economic impact and the Vietnamese tourism industry’s response to the pandemic
Is Vietnam ready to welcome tourists back? Assessing COVID-19’s economic impact and the Vietnamese tourism industry’s response to the pandemic
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Date
2020
Authors
Tuyen D. Quang
Thi C. Tran
Vu H. Tran
Thao T. Nguyen
Thu T. Nguyen
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Publisher
Research Projects
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Abstract
This paper qualitatively assesses COVID-19’s impact on the tourism
industry in Vietnam and the Vietnamese government and tourism
industry’s responses to the pandemic. It includes data from government
media sources, semi-structured interviews with 30 managers of travel
enterprises, and two group discussions with 50 representatives of
tourism and hospitality businesses in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Its
findings indicate that Vietnam’s tourism sector responded passively in
the first stages of the pandemic and then responded reactively and
successfully alongside the Vietnamese government’s planned reopening
of society and the economy. In particular, it shows how
government authorities and tourism companies are implementing
strategies to encourage domestic tourism and boost the sector’s
economic recovery. This paper also explores how various tourism
stakeholders in Vietnam (a) see the pandemic as an opportunity to
restructure various practices and yet (b) have not prepared contingency
plans and long-term strategies to help prevent and mitigate the risks to
the industry posed by future crises. This paper concludes by reflecting
on how the pandemic illustrates the need for proactive efforts to
prepare reduction and readiness strategies and draw up initiatives for
long-term development of tourism in Vietnam.
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Keywords
"Economic impacts,
COVID- 19,
tourism crisis,
responses,
Vietnam"