Tourists at the peak of Bà Đen Mountain in Tây Ninh Province. VNS Photo Thu Hằng

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Committee has allowed bars and dance clubs that were closed late last month due to the second COVID-19 outbreak to resume operations from Monday (September 7).

Bars and dance clubs are required to follow safety and prevention protocols against COVID-19, including ramping up sanitization efforts and training employees about prevention measures issued by health authorities.

Events with large gatherings such as festivals, fairs, investment promotion conferences and workshops are permitted with proper infection prevention and control measures in place, including wearing face masks, disinfecting hands, filling in health declarations, checking body temperature and practicing social distancing.

The city authorities shut down entertainment services and limited large gatherings on July 31 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 after the second outbreak that broke out in the central region.

Tourism recovery

The Việt Nam Administration of Tourism (VNAT) is drawing up a recovery plan for the “new normal” after the second outbreak eases.

The administration is consulting travel and tourism businesses and is completing the plan as quickly as possible, said Nguyễn Trùng Khánh, general director of VNAT.

The domestic tourism stimulus programme will resume to boost local travel demand.

Expatriates living in Việt Nam and foreign visitors entering Việt Nam on some commercial flights that may be allowed to resume are also potential tourists for the tourism stimulus programme, he said.

Many new travel products and initiatives are being considered in the tourism recovery plans.

Travel firms said that it was vital to restore traveller confidence and demand with domestic promotions to prepare for the year-end travel season.

Nguyễn Quốc Kỳ, general director of Vietravel, said the key to rebuilding demand for travel would be to restore traveller confidence with safe travel and destination campaigns.

Tourism policies with specific goals should be issued in a timely manner to help businesses stimulate demand and boost the market, Kỳ said.

Nguyễn Minh Mẫn, director of TST Tourist’s marketing department, said the domestic tourism stimulus programme would help struggling travel and tourism businesses survive when the current COVID-19 wave ends.

Financial assistance from the Government such as tax exemption for the entire year should be provided, as well as funds for tourism promotion programmes to stimulate demand, Mẫn said. —VNS