HCMC – Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has asked the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Training to cooperate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and relevant agencies to propose a summer and national holiday plan to stimulate tourism, and submit it to the prime minister prior to June 20.
In previous years, travel firms always did good business during the summer vacation when a large number of families went on holiday. However, as the coronavirus pandemic led to the extension of the school break after the Lunar New Year holiday, many schools have proposed shortening the summer holiday this year.
In HCMC, for example, some schools will allow students to take only two weeks off for their summer vacation.
Many travel firms have voiced their concerns, stressing that they might fail to deploy tourism promotion programs aimed at making up for the losses they suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As such, several proposals to extend the summer vacation and the upcoming national holidays have been raised at recent tourism conferences.
The tourism sector is considered one of Vietnam’s main industries, with a 9.2% contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product.
The country has over 40,000 active tourism firms, which have created some 4.5 million jobs.
By Dao Loan
