It's been a year since the first international arrival after the 2020-2021 period affected by COVID-19, the tourism picture of Hoi An in Quang Nam Province, Da Nang’s next-door neighbour, has not been gloomy any more. Tourists near and far have returned to Hoi An, bringing with them the hope of restoring tourism to the old town in particular, Quang Nam and Da Nang in general, but that is still not enough when the impact from COVID-19 is still "smoldering" in the heart of the this legacy land.

The ‘Hoi An - colours of silk’ programme - one of the new tourism products of Hoi An. Photo: T.K

Post-Covid-19 "sequels"

More tourists have come to Hoi An than the previous year, especially in the bustling atmosphere of the National Tourism Year - Quang Nam 2022 with a series of special events and festivals. However, it is not possible for Hoi An to return to the ‘golden era’ of crowded tourists in 2018 and 2019 amidst the fact that the typical traditional market in some countries has not yet recovered and many businesses are still stuck in difficulties after the pandemic.

The current status of Hoi An is also the image of the whole Quang Nam tourism in the post-COVID-19 crisis. Huynh Thi Minh, Chairman of Quang Nam Tourism Human Resources Club, cited the survey data on the impact of COVID-19 conducted by this club as saying: “The number of hotels and restaurants reopening after the pandemic has not reached 100%. Up to 95% of units confirmed that there were fluctuations and changes in demand, disruption of customer supply chains, lack of labour and capital, along with difficulty in getting bank loans and other troubles”.

A bright spot in overcoming difficulties from the pandemic

From the ‘leverage’ policies of the national government and the efforts exerted by businesses, many activities to stimulate demand and develop tourism have been implemented on track and new tourism products have been launched to the ‘non-smoke’ industry in a bid to attract travellers back. Among them are Nam Hoi An Resort (Hoiana), TUI Blue Resort Nam Hoi An, Dong Giang Heaven Gate, waste cycle experience tours, spiritual tours, sea festival events and Tan Thanh Market and the great success of the National Tourism Year - Quang Nam 2022, of which Hoi An is the core.

The highly-inviting ‘magnets’ as above mentioned have together brought a combined total of 4,746,000 visitors to Quang Nam in 2022, up 13 times from the same period in 2021.

According to Head of the Culture Department, UNESCO Office in Ha Noi Pham Thi Thanh Huong, it can be affirmed that Hoi An and Quang Nam at large are a bright spot to overcome difficulties from the COVID-19 crisis.

After the period of joining a pilot programme to welcome visitors under the "vaccine passport" scheme, Hoi An is standing in the recovery stage. “Hoi An boat” still needs many solutions and time to go through the maintenance and recovery phase before thinking about stability and growth.

Ancient city renews itself

“Adapting, adapting, renewing” are concepts that tourism businesses and units in Hoi An have become familiar with in recent years since the outbreak of COVID-19. Some units see COVID-19 as an opportunity to change and re-adjust their operations. Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, General Director of Hoi An Tourism and Service JSC shared that the company's experience of "surpassing the storm" is to be self-reliant in market research, adjust tourism products, prioritise domestic markets towards the trend of green and resort tourism.

The fledgling OCOP House brand of Hoi An was formed during the end of 2019 - early 2020, when COVID-19 appeared. The unit has acted as a "bridge" for 3-star OCOP-certified specialties and quality products of Quang origin such as fish sauce, ginseng jam, grilled coconut cakes, ‘banh chung’, black rice wine and mung bean cakes mixed with meat to the market and become attractive tourist products.

Mr. Dinh Cong Quan, the owner and founder of OCOP House, does not hide his intention to cooperate with travel agencies to make experience tours for tourists during which they can shop and visit the place where the specialtities are made. “We really want to facilitate visitors to experience how Quang Nam people make their homeland’s traditional delicacies so that they can understand the culture and people of Quang”, said Mr. Dinh shared.

In the spirit of the National Tourism Year - Quang Nam 2022, green tourism will be an extremely important brand that Hoi An needs to renew itself, besides the typical imprints such as the old town, Cau pagoda, and ‘bai choi’ (singing while acting as playing cards).

Lessons for sustainable development

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Truong Hoang, Dean of the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality, the Ha Noi-based National Economics University, acknowledged that there have been positive signs for tourism in Hoi An, and Quang Nam as a whole, but there are still difficulties for businesses. Therefore, businesses need the role of the State and the national government in this period to continue to make recovery steps and expand capital solutions, open the market, review the service system and support heritage tourism in the medium and long term as well.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Lanh, Vice Chairman of Hoi An People's Committee, Hoi An is clearly defining the important role of the domestic market and avoid being completely dependent on a certain customer market and the falling into a passive status. Hoi An will develop more tourism products from what is available in great effort to better serve tourists. “The municipal government, businesses, and people are all in the same boat. If we hold on together in the same direction, the boat will go faster”, said Vice Chairman Lanh.

Reporting by TRUONG KY - Translating by A.THU