Vietnam export and import

The Hanoitimes – Vietnam’s tourism sector is preparing to welcome back foreign tourists. The tourism sector will submit a schedule for re-starting inbound tourism in the coming time.

Vietnam’s tourism sector is expected to resume welcoming inbound travelers sooner than many other countries in the region will do thanks to the success in containing the pandemic. “Vietnam is a safe place” would be the new slogan, said businesses and insiders at the recent conference on post-Covid-19 solutions for the tourism industry.

En cave, Quang Binh province. Photo: Vic (Facebook)

At the conference titled “Solutions promoting domestic tourism and recover international tourists” held on May 21, Steve Wolstenholme, CEO of Hoi An South Development (Hoiana), suggested that Vietnam needs to communicate the message “Vietnam is a safe place” and has to safeguard those who work in the industry.

Sharing the same idea, Vice President of Lodgis Hospitality Holdings Vietnam Craig Douglas added that Vietnam needs to take the opportunity to promote itself as a safe tourism corridor to attract tourists.

Kenneth Atkinson, vice president of the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), underlined that Vietnam could learn from experiences of Australia, New Zealand and Thailand on creating specific resorts meeting anti-pandemic safety standards to accommodate international tourists.

Safety is of utmost priority for the tourism industry when it is re-opened to tourists, Nguyen Le Phuc, deputy general director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), affirmed at the conference.

The conference entitled “Solutions promoting domestic tourism and recover international tourists” on May 21.

“To achieve this target, the industry could apply technology for controlling the pandemic. At this time, the VNAT is implementing a communication plan on safe tourist destinations to lure tourists,” Phuc added. “Travel businesses are encouraged to devise sets of criteria on the safety and safe tourist destinations by themselves as well as cooperate with each other for better promotion.”

Trinh Hong Quang, deputy CEO of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, added that local businesses should take advantage of Vietnam’s successful control against the Covid-19 pandemic to build new product packages that focuse on the safety of the tourists.

Since the social distancing order was loosened, travel businesses have offered in unison promotional programs to attract domestic travelers. However, local insiders commented that this is only a short-term solution. For long-term ones, it is important to lure foreign travelers due to their high spending and purchasing power.

Le Quang Tung, deputy minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, concluded that Vietnam needs to communicate the safe destination images to the world. In addition, businesses need to work together to develop and take advantage of opportunities to revive the Vietnamese tourism industry.

Gianh River, Quang Binh province. Photo: dimorua (Facebook)

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will, based on the collaboration with relevant agencies, build a schedule for reopening the industry, Tung said.

In the first four months of 2020, international arrivals to Vietnam plunged 37.8% year-on-year to 3.7 million, according to the General Statistics Office.

In April alone, the number of tourists fell 98.2% from a year earlier and 94.2% against March. The pandemic impacted on the whole tourism industry and its goal of welcoming about 20.5 million international visitors this year is highly unlikely.

Vietnam will face Indonesia on June 7, Malaysia on June 11 and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on June 15 at the Asian Qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, instead of meeting Malaysia first as the old schedule, according to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

According to the MoU, Pharmacity will become a partner in the customer care network of Hanwha Life. Customers of Hanwha Life Vietnam will be able to access the benefits provided from this collaboration as well as experience policy owner services such as premium payments at the system of over 500 drugstores of Pharmacity nationwide via payment service providers like Payoo, Momo, and VNPay. About 450 staff members and 44,000 agents of Hanwha Life will be the recipients of the incentives of Pharmacity.

The MoU with Pharmacity also aims to realise Hanwha Life’s mission to build a comprehensive life solution for customers in Vietnam

As a life insurance company pioneering co-operating with a leading healthcare partner, Im Dong Jun, CEO cum chairman of the Member Council of Hanwha Life Vietnam, said, “Healthcare is an essential part of our business, considering its nature. Particularly in the context of the pandemic, human health has become a great concern for most people and the whole society. With a hope to bring more benefits and healthcare services to customers to improve their quality of life, Hanwha Life Vietnam has tried to intensify its co-operation with reliable healthcare partners, including Pharmacity.”

In 2021, Hanwha Life continues to strive to become the most reliable life insurance company and aims to bring optimal life solutions to customers.

“I believe that this mutual endeavour will create a more comprehensive healthcare service to the customers of both parties. Pharmacity’s customers will be able to access Hanwha Life’s financial protection solutions, whereas Hanwha Life’s customers, staff members, and agents will have access to medicines and better healthcare services from Pharmacity. To make this happen in a more customer-friendly environment, Hanwha Life and Pharmacity will continue to further collaborate to integrate its customer service platforms,” added Im Dong Jun.

Chris Blank, CEO of Pharmacity, said, “We are glad to join hands with Hanwha Life, a leading life insurance company from South Korea, to take care of and improve the health of the Vietnamese people. With a network of over 500 pharmacies in big cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Can Tho, and Danang, together with professional, thoughtful pharmacists, we are confident that Pharmacity will bring the best services to customers. The co-operation with a life insurer having a wide network of offices like Hanwha Life and its sister companies will also help us materialise the target of having 1,000 drugstores by the end of this year.”

Pharmacity is one of the leading drugstore chains in Vietnam with a network of over 500 pharmacies

As a life insurance company endeavouring to meet the ever-changing demands of customers, Hanwha Life is strengthening co-operation with its numerous partners in health, banking, and fintech, and with technology companies so that customers can experience Hanwha Life’s products in their daily life. Earlier, in December 2020, Hanwha Life signed a co-operation deal with Gene Solutions, a leading company in genetics in Vietnam.

With the motto of customer-centricity, Hanwha Life is boosting investment in improving customer experience. Along with the co-operation with many partners in many fields, the company is accelerating the digitisation of its sales network.

Recently, Hanwha Life Vietnam has launched the LIME mobile app to improve services for customers. In addition, the company has also developed many different tools to support its business system professionally and effectively in the digital technology environment concerning recruitment, policy management, and staff training, which are important for its business.

Despite the strong impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hanwha Life Vietnam maintained stable business and sustainable growth in 2020, with total premium revenue of nearly VND3.4 trillion ($147.83 million), up 20 per cent on-year, and profit estimated at over VND300 billion ($13 million).

This is the first time that Hanwha Life Vietnam has earned profits for two consecutive years. In 2021, Hanwha Life continues to strive to become the most reliable life insurance company and aims to bring optimal life solutions to customers. At present, Hanwha Life Vietnam has more than 170 customer service points, over 44,000 financial consultants, and 450 staff members serving more than 600,000 customers countrywide.

The Hanoitimes – Vietnam’s is considered as one of the fastest growing aviation markets in Asia.

Vietnam should invest in hub airports in terms of scale and capacity instead of massively building ones, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV)’s proposal on its draft plan on the development of the national airport system by 2030, with a vision to 2050.

Vietnam needs to build hub airports. Photo: Vietnam Airlines

Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan said some airports are curently operating beyond the designed capacity, many of their items have not been upgraded, especially, no airport has been qualified in the international large hub category.

Tuan was speaking at a conference held in Hanoi on March 3, which aimed to seek ideas for national airport system development.

According to the draft plan, Vietnam will have 26 airports by 2030 and 30 ones by 2050, half of them will be international airports.

With the strong growth in the aviation industry in the future, the plan on the national airport system needs being studied carefully to suit the current situation and the socio-economic development of the country, according to local experts.

Localities proposed massively building airports

According to the CAAV, some provinces have recently wanted to turn their provincial airport into international airport. However, airport is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the tourist development and investment attraction of a province. Other infrastructures are more essential to attract private investment as well as tourist arrivals.

Phan Xuan Dung, Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, suggested that the plan on the national airport system development should be based on the projection of passenger number,  the overall transport network development as well as the air routes system and the development plan of each airport.

At the same time, the aviation planning should take into account not only the probable economic efficiency, but also the compatibility between civil and military aviation, ensuring aviation security and national defence, Dung added.

Assoc. Dr. Tran Kim Chung, Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said that forecasting the international and domestic developments in the 2021-2030 period is very important and necessary for the national airport planning.

In addition, it is necessary to identify competitors and partners among the airports of other countries in the region, then, consider domestic economic scenarios to have plans for the development of both infrastructure development and airports, Chung said.

Resources and infrastructure connections

Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan said that the plan should have a mechanism to attract resources in order to achieve the goals.

Dr. Chung recommended that the mobilization of non-state economic sectors to invest in airport construction should be seen as a policy and a solution.

Dr. Tran Quang Chau, Chairman of the Vietnam Association on Aviation Science and Technology, affirmed that for the effective mobilization of resources in the way of involving private investment in construction and operation of airports, a transparent policy is a must. “The policy should ensure a harmonization of interests among investors, the state and the people so that the investor would trust in the policy and pour money in investing and operating airports,” he said.

In addition, Dr. Chung also raised the issue of transport connectivity of infrastructures in the planning of the airport development. “Airport planning must be considered as an input to other plans and vice-versa ,” he said.