THUA THIEN-HUE – As many as 850 gift sets including food and essential items have been offered to disadvantaged cyclo riders and employees working at tourism service firms in Thua Thien-Hue Province, as part of the Saigon Times Group’s Saigon Times-Noi Vong Tay Lon program.
“All seven members in my family are self-employed, doing travel-related jobs for a living,” Vuong Thanh, a cyclo rider in Hue City, said.
Before the pandemic broke out, Thanh could earn some VND300,000 per day, but the pandemic has left him and other members in the family unemployed. They have had to struggle to make ends meet. He had to work as a bricklayer while awaiting the tourism to recover.
He is among hundreds of people that depend on the tourism sector to earn their living and have had their incomes slashed due to a sharp decline in tourist arrivals triggered by Covid-19.
Accordingly, to share difficulties with people in this former imperial capital of Hue, the Saigon Times Group decided to support those disadvantaged people. The program was launched in coordination with the Thua Thien-Hue Tourism Department, the Hue City Labor Federation, the Thua Thien-Hue Travel Association, as well as Mirae Asset and Siemens Healthieers.
Le Huu Minh, acting director of the provincial Tourism Department, said the local tourism has taken a hit by the pandemic. Such meaningful programs like the Saigon Times-Noi Vong Tay Lon have helped relieve the burden shouldered by underprivileged people and encouraged them to overcome the hard time.
Since early April 2020, the Saigon Times Group has called on its readers, including businesses and individuals, to join the Saigon Times-Noi Vong Tay Lon program by donating money or necessities.
Up to now, the program has donated some 10,000 gift sets worth nearly VND2 billion to poor people in many localities across the country. The program is still calling for donations so that it can help more disadvantaged people.
By Nhan Tam
