Service Industries Suffer Amid Pandemic

Many international guides quit because of the "freezing" inbound market. Photo: World Mate Travel

Many businesses providing inbound services are working with domestic partners to welcome international visitors back.

Shortage of tour guides

Shortage of tour guides is a problem many experts mention when fully opening tourism.

According to the Department of Tourism (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism), the country has more than 15,500 international tour guides (qualified to welcome both inbound and outbound tourists). However, from 2020, they nearly all lost their jobs.

Som tried switching to domestic customers. However, the majority said it was too competitive, with supply exceeding demand.

There were few domestic tours due to Covid-19, so even domestic guides are short of work. It is very difficult for international tour guides to enter this market.

Another factor is culture and work intensity. Many international tour guides say they prefer to work with foreign tourists, especially Westerners.

The work intensity of domestic guides is also "stressful" because guests often arrive early and leave late. Meanwhile, international tours are usually comfortable.

Nguyen The Truong, an international tour guide with more than 20 years of experience, said he almost lost his income because there were no inbound guests, so he switched to working as a taxi driver.

"At least, as a taxi driver, I can drive to other provinces. I can't stand office work. If I can lead an international tour again, I'm ready to return."

Restaurants are closed

Many restaurant owners specializing in serving inbound customers have temporarily closed due to Covid-19.

Yin & Yang (Hanoi) used to be a restaurant specializing in inbound guests and received high reviews on international travel websites. Currently, the restaurant has been closed for two years.

Le Truong Lam, the owner of the restaurant, said the rental price was too high while the number of guests is not enough, so he had to close the restaurant.

The rental price is about US$2,500/month. Some restaurants in the old quarter with good locations can cost up to US$4,000/month.

In 2 years away from the restaurant business, Lam also managed with other investment sources such as securities and real estate.

Yin & Yang's representative said that they are still ready to resume operations, but also need to carefully assess the situation of international guests.

The restaurant specializing in inbound customers is closed because of high rental costs. Photo: Tripadvisor

"I need to see if the number of international visitors to Vietnam is positive. The infrastructure in Vietnam after 2 years has changed a lot.

For example, Van Don airport (Quang Ninh) has operated international flights.

There will be a number of visitors going directly to Ha Long, visiting the bay without going to Hanoi. Currently, I think tourists tend to go less," Lam said.

The restaurant said that they also tried to welcome domestic customers, but the results were not positive.

Previously, Lam's restaurant could welcome about 100 international guests per day. However, with domestic delegations, this number dropped to only 20-30 guests.

Passenger vehicles ready

With the news of international visitors, bus operators have followed to catch up with the new situation.

Some parties have to sell about 70% of buses because most parking lots are open-air.

The number of international visitors is low, the buses will have to be abandoned if not sold.

This causes the bus to degrade and break down because they are not used.

With about 30% of buses remaining compared to the "peak" period in 2019, Nguyen Tien Chung, deputy director of Xuan Phong, said that it is still enough to serve international guests when Vietnam officially opens for tourism.

The reinvestment of buying more buses must be calculated based on the customer situation.

Many parties have to sell buses to wait for international customers to return. Photo: Zing

H.V., a company specializing in car rental and service in Hanoi, has been doing well for the past 2 years because it mainly provides shuttle buses for employees in industrial parks.

However, a representative of this company said that during the tourist season, the number of car rentals for inbound groups can account for up to 20% of the total number of car bookings. This is still an important and desirable market when international tourism recovers.

"Revenues of car for tours always accounts for a large proportion in the peak season. Therefore, the opening of tourism is a matter of concern to the company," said Hoang Vu, the company's representative.

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