To overcome difficulties

According to the report of the city's tourism sector, in the first 7 months of 2021, the number of visitors to Can Tho reached only 33.4% of the year’s plan, with over 2 million (mainly in the first 4 months of the year). The biggest drop in arrivals was in July and August, down more than 98% over the same period last year. July and August is also the period when Can Tho city implemented social distancing according to Directive 16/CT-TTg of the Prime Minister to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic.

Activities in Can Tho city have almost shut down since June. Particularly, large enterprises still maintain their operations but with limited capacity and staff reduction. Small and medium business establishments, gardens have to close 100% or restructure their businesses. Not only do businesses face difficulties, but employees also lose their jobs, especially the tour guides.

From this fact, the tourism sector has developed several solutions and proposed to the People's Committee of Can Tho city appropriate support policies. Accordingly, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has coordinated with the Department of Industry and Trade and EVN Can Tho to have favorable policies on tax and electricity price reductions for businesses. At the same time, the tourism sector has made a list of tour guides who need financial support in accordance with Resolution 68/NQ-CP (2021) on supporting employees and employers facing difficulties by the COVID-19 pandemic. Up to now, the People's Committee of Can Tho city has issued a decision to support 41 tour guides, with an amount of over 152 million VND. The city also implements registration for COVID-19 vaccination for employees and workers at tourism businesses in Can Tho city. There are currently 150 registered businesses, with a total of 3,839 employees. In addition, Businesses can now access to Government’s non-interest loan package to pay salaries to employees who have stopped working or have to work extra hours due to the serious impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, 9 firms have received more than 28 billion VND in total from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies.

Despite all the odds, the local authorities of Can Tho city together with companies, garden owners, and workers have made great efforts to overcome difficulties. These are temporary solutions but urgent and necessary in the current period. In the long term, Can Tho city is developing many orientations to recover the tourism sector and develop it sustainably to adapt to the pandemic.

Rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic situation

Due to the complicated and unpredictable developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, localities are required to maintain dual goals of pandemic prevention and economic growth. These are also crucial and long-term tasks for the tourism sector. Accordingly, Can Tho city will continue to focus on building new tourism products in the upcoming time. Specifically, these are MICE tourism (meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions), eco-tourism, community-based tourism, river tourism, cultural-historical tourism, etc. The key areas are districts: Ninh Kieu, Binh Thuy, Cai Rang, Phong Dien, Thot Not.

Community-based tourism on Son islet (Binh Thuy district, Can Tho city) before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of Can Tho city has made a plan to develop tourism products and services as well as a survey to evaluate community-based tourism models in Can Tho city. As a result of that, the city step-by-step supports localities to build their own tourism products and brands. First, Thot Not district has a project named “Tourism development in Tan Loc Ward, Thot Not District, Can Tho city for the 2021-2025 period”, in order to gradually build a tourism brand and a community-based tourism model in Tan Loc ward. Phong Dien district also develops a pilot model of community-based tourism. Furthermore, Can Tho is taking steps to develop a project to develop agricultural tourism in the city and so on.

Besides, the city has the orientation of developing craft villages tourism as there are currently 4 craft villages that have been recognized by the People's Committee of Can Tho city. The craft villages joining the value chains are operating quite stably. Specifically, there are 2 cooperatives, 50 enterprises with about 869 households, and over 4,200 employees. Annual revenue is estimated at 138 billion VND. Since then, the tourism sector has coordinated with localities to develop and deploy appropriate policies to support and promote these activities. Moreover, Binh Thuy district piloted urban agricultural tourism models in Long Tuyen ward; organized training courses on tourism; transferred technologies in order to transform the production structure of craft villages in the direction of linkages and enhanced tourism services.

In addition, the city's tourism sector is also coordinating with relevant agencies, institutes, schools, and units to organize human resource training courses for the OCOP Program. Accordingly, within the “One Commune, One Product for the 2018-2020 period” program, the city has selected 40 products in six categories namely food & beverages, herbs, fabrics & garments, souvenirs - decor & furniture, rural tourism, and sales. Currently, Can Tho city has 27 OCOP products. The OCOP is one of the programs that contribute to creating gifts and souvenirs, as well as promoting trade, local brands, and tourism products.

On the one hand, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Can Tho city continues to implement projects and plans such as “Building a river tourism model following connected services supply chain in Can Tho city”, “Developing a MICE tourism model in Can Tho city”, “Evaluating the current status and proposing solutions to effectively exploit historical-cultural relics for tourism development in Can Tho city”, and so on. These projects aim to build a river tourism model following the connected services supply chain to maximize the potential and promote the strengths of the city's specific tourism products. Furthermore, Can Tho city also develops plans to foster human resources and build a typical, interesting and attractive tourist route. To adapt to the new context, Can Tho will focus on applying information technology in the management and operation of tourism activities. Moreover, the city will be proactive and creative in terms of approaching new technologies, diversifying plans, and developing new products in order to effectively take advantage of digital transformation opportunities.

On the other hand, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Can Tho city continues to implement key tasks and solutions to help tourism businesses overcome difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, the city focuses on pandemic prevention and control as well as ensuring safety in tourism activities for tourists, people, and employees. Finally, the city will gradually recover tourism when the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.