Terrible economic data just surveyed in Vietnam shows that the country’s economy is plunging down with widespread losses from North to South ….
Ho Chi Minh City: 99% of tourists cancel tours to the Central and the North
A report from tour operators sent to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said most visitors to these businesses last week were to cancel pre-booked travel programs. In particular, 99% of the tours to Central and North were canceled.
According to the domestic media, Covid-19 outbreak is the cause of tourists canceling their tours simultaneously. As a result, revenue of travel businesses was badly affected and dropped sharply compared to the same period last year.
Specifically, the number of Japanese tourists decreased by 76%, German visitors- by 54% compared to the previous week. Revenue from accommodation establishments fell by more than 58%, conference business by 60.8%, restaurant, party and other businesses by 60.1%.
According to the statistics of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, the number of international visitors in February 2020 reached 1.1 million, down 52% over the same period. The city’s total tourism revenue in February reached VND8.1 trillion, down nearly 30% over the same period, down 37% compared to January 2020.
To avoid the spread of disease, many tourist destinations in Vietnam in recent days have announced temporary closure, stopping receiving visitors. Ninh Binh province on March 12 officially isssued a temporary suspension of welcome visitors. Time for re-opening has not been announced, and depend on the result of dealing with the epidemic and when the grassroots conditions are guaranteed.
Nearly all provinces and cities across the country are reporting to Hanoi the worst news, with the reaction of closing a series of businesses and services from large to small due to the disaster from Wuhan virus.
Earlier, on March 11, Quang Ninh province also decided to suspend tourism activities in the area. Specifically, stop the overnight service on Ha Long Bay, suspend visits to Ha Long Bay, Bai Tu Long Bay, Co To Island, Van Don, Yen Tu historical and scenic sites and monuments, as well as other beauty spots and attractions in the province. The time is from March 12 to March 26.
In the southern region, the People’s Committee of Tien Giang province also announced to stop accepting international tourists from March 12. Many resorts in Tien Giang and Ben Tre provinces also announced closure due to the number of visitors falling by 70%-80%.
The wave of bankruptcy in the country particularly affects the leading service sectors of the Vietnamese economy such as the chain of hotels, restaurants, famous places, and landscapes, all of which are having few customers and have to close and cancel renting because of low revenues.
Strict control of alcohol content, plus the Covid-19 epidemic, caused a series of restaurants and hotels to close down, cut staff, and return premises.
Revenue decreases by 30%-90%
Talking to reporters of the Vietnam Investment Review, Mr. Hoang Quoc Khanh, CEO of Golden Gate Group – the owner of Ashima, SumoBBQ, Kichi Kichi, Vuvuzela, iSuhi, Delicious Street 37 … said that the business is heavily affected by the Covid-19 epidemic.
“Since Tet holiday, Golden Gate’s sales have plummeted. The chains of restaurants with many stores such as Gogi House and Kichi Kichi decreased by up to 30%, other brands in the Group also dropped similarly,” Mr. Khanh said.
According to Mr. Khanh, Golden Gate is currently postponing repair plans, reducing hiring of new employees, cutting costs, boosting home delivery channels … to overcome this difficult period.
A series of restaurants and catering establishments also reflect that, after the issuance of Decree 100/2019 / ND-CP, the number of visitors decreased by 20%-30%, now plus the epidemic, the number of visitors decreased by 50%-90%.
Business owners have suffered the pain of laying off hundreds of their employees when revenue dropped over 90%. Even the most experienced business people have to leave their works.
Once being one of the most prosperous restaurant chains in Hanoi with sales of hundreds of millions of dong per day, but now, the Lan Chin restaurant chain system has to close.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan, owner of Lan Chin restaurant chain, said Lan Chin restaurant from the situation of having thousands of customers every day with revenues of hundreds of millions of dong, now only a few three million/day, while the cost of renting staff, leased premises of huge facilities remain high. Lan Chin’s shutdown of five dining establishments meant hundreds of employees lost their jobs.
Businesses suffered two heavy hits this year, which is Decree 100 on stronger handling of alcohol drinkers in traffic, now adding the Wuhan flu pandemic to the world, in which Vietnam, which is located close to China, has been badly affected. Businesses can’t help it anymore, employees also lose jobs.
Mr. Nguyen Van Tai, a Grab driver, said: “Before Tet, I worked as a waiter for a seafood restaurant near Tan De Bridge (Nam Dinh). However, this year, due to Decree 100, plus epidemics, revenue dropped by 90%, a series of employees lost their jobs. I temporarily went to Hanoi to run Grab while looking for a new job.”
Not only restaurants, hotels also fall into the same situation when tourists decline. Ms. Pham Thi Hang, director of Hanoi Emerald Waters Hotel, said that this hotel chain had to close many facilities because there were no customers, but every day it cost hundreds of millions of dong for renting premises and staff salaries, and utility costs, etc.
According to the statistics of the Department of Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City, due to the impact of the disease, restaurants and hotels have to cut personnel because there is no work to arrange, and at the same time reduce costs.
At the same time, Vietnamese citizens at home and abroad have witnessed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc shouting out the same cliché slogans as they did 75 years ago that “every business should be a fortress“, but he did not see the fact that these businesses are exhausted and they don’t have bullets “to hold that fort anymore.
PM Phuc said: “If we are late, the disease will knock us out, if we are not timely, the disease will spread exponentially, exponentially.”
Therefore, all measures must be taken to minimize the source of infection.
Epidemic diseases must be zoned off and disinfected strictly according to the urgent and timely process.
Every business, every citizen, every residential area must be a fortress against the disease.”
However, at this meeting, the PM has not yet come up with specific solutions to help private enterprises in the whirlwind of losses due to pandemic from China. They were forced to shut down mass and throw hundreds of thousands of workers to the streets. These unemployed people do not know what to rely on to live, support their wives and children.
Thu Thuy from Hochiminh city – Thoibao.de (Translated)
