KHÁNH HÒA — The Việt Nam Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and the Khánh Hòa Tourism Department organised site inspections at several hotels in the central province in the immediate aftermath of typhoon Damrey.

A report in the Văn Hóa (Culture) newspaper said no tourist was injured as the hotels had carefully prepared to cope with the storm, despite the province being untouched by severe weather for many years.  The hotels stored food and trained their staff to handle the situation. They strictly followed regulations and guidelines set by the Khánh Hòa Department of Tourism.

All the hotels closed their doors last Friday night before the storm made landfall in the central and south-central coast.

Typhoon Damrey, the 12th major storm to hit Việt Nam this year, made landfall early Saturday morning with winds of up to 135km/h. It forced the provincial Cam Ranh International Airport to close for 14 hours, from 9pm, November 3, to 11am, November 4. Many flights were cancelled, especially charter flights from two major tourist markets Russia and China. However, 30 minutes after re-opening, the airport welcomed the first flight arrival from China.

From 10.30am November 4, while the hotels started doing check-out for their guests, tourists agencies also started to transport tourists to the airport.

From 12am November 4, all the tourist services have been re-operated.

Khánh Hòa, with the resort city of Nha Trang and several other tourism destinations were among the hardest hit regions. — VNS