In the wake of Typhoon Yagi, Quang Ninh leaders held a meeting with local tourism and service companies to learn about their difficulties so that measures could be taken to facilitate the recovery of the tourism sector.
Ships take visitors back to Ha Long Bay after Typhoon Yagi.
The province and enterprises quickly got down to overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and raced against time to return to business and serve tourists.
Along with launching a three-day campaign to clean up Ha Long Bay, Ha Long City also launched another campaign to clear the downed trees and the environment on main streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi so that Ha Long will return to its image as a heritage and tourism city as soon as possible.
Quickly restoring tourism activities
As a popular destination for many domestic and foreign visitors, the Quang Ninh Museum reopened on September 30, three weeks after dealing with the consequences of Typhoon Yagi. On the occasion, the museum also introduced an automatic audio guide service to meet visitors’ demands.
Tiam Lawtiantong, a visitor from Thailand, said, “Our delegation has 14 people, and we planned to visit Quang Ninh a long time ago. When we learned that Quang Ninh was severely damaged by the recent storm, we were rather worried. But when we arrived, everything had returned to normal. I was particularly impressed with the visit to the museum, especially the space dedicated to Yen Tu and Buddhism during the Tran Dynasty.”
Quang Ninh Museum Director Do Quyet Tien shared that “Along with repairing the damage caused by Typhoon Yagi, the museum also introduced many new services such as the audio guide system in English and Vietnamese, refined the biodiversity exhibition space and rolled out an experience programme on history and culture for students in the province. We aim to welcome 750,000 visitors in 2024.”
In addition, travel companies continue to clean up the environment, repair damaged infrastructure, maintain good service for pre-ordered and new delegations, and ensure good service quality, reasonable prices and food safety.
Notably, enterprises are working with the government to convey that Quang Ninh is always ready to serve visitors and is a safe, friendly and attractive destination with tourism promotion programmes, roadshows and food festivals.
Head of the Ha Long Commission of Communication and Education, Phan Thi Hai Huong, shared, “As soon as the storm dissipated, the city leaders actively called on the people and businesses to deal with its consequences. At present, life has returned to normal. It is nice that many tourist delegations, especially foreign visitors, have chosen Ha Long as their destination. With great determination and love for the city, we hope each enterprise and resident will join hands to make the city more beautiful.”
With the efforts of local authorities and enterprises, immediately after ensuring safety, Ha Long Bay began to welcome visitors back on September 13. In addition, the cruise ship fleets also quickly carried out maintenance and restored tourist reception.
Spanish visitor Martina Gonzalez shared, “It is unbelievable that you were recently struck by a terrifying storm, with trees and landscapes severely damaged, but you have quickly worked to ensure safe conditions to welcome tourists.”
Standing by enterprises
In the wake of Typhoon Yagi, Quang Ninh leaders held direct meetings with enterprises and took various measures to support them. As communications networks were disrupted, causing difficulty in directing relief efforts, the province’s top officials were present in almost all hotspots to help the people and enterprises deal with the consequences of the storm and to direct clean-up campaigns in the city and Ha Long Bay.
With practical actions, prompt measures and a self-reliant spirit, the whole government system, enterprises and people took every second and minute to quickly restore production and business activities.
Quang Ninh is now ready to welcome visitors back to Ha Long Bay. Tran Van Hong, Head of the Ha Long Society of Cruise Ships, said, “The work of dealing with sunken ships faces difficulty because repair workshops are being overburdened. The society is trying to contact salvage companies to recover sunken ships to repair workshops. We hope banks will provide more support policies for ship owners severely affected by Typhoon Yagi so we can soon return to business.”
After quickly dealing with the consequences of Typhoon Yagi, Quang Ninh’s tourism sector has gradually resumed operations and is working to fulfil the full-year target. In the first nine months of 2024, the province welcomed 15.6 million visitors, up 20% from last year and equivalent to 98.1% of the nine-month target. Total revenue from tourism was estimated at 36.9 trillion VND, up 39% year on year.
With the consensus of the entire political system and the people, Quang Ninh’s tourism industry has not only recovered but also started to accelerate. Several accommodation and tourism establishments have resumed operation and welcomed tourists. Ha Long Bay has welcomed many delegations of visitors. From September 8-16, nearly 14,500 domestic and 3,450 foreign tourists stayed in Quang Ninh. The total number of visitors to Ha Long Bay was 18,862, with those staying overnight on the bay at 4,169.
For the province’s service and tourism sectors to recover quickly, Quang Ninh Chairman Cao Tuong Huy said, “Based on current policies, newly introduced policies must meet the practical local tasks, be inclusive and appropriate with the province’s budget.”
The spirit of solidarity and self-reliance is a great driving force for Quang Ninh’s tourism sector to quickly recover and accelerate to fulfil the goal of welcoming 19 million visitors in 2024, including 3.5 million foreign visitors.”