Tourism is one of the sectors hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In that context, the tourism sector of Khanh Hoa province confidently asserts impressive resilience. What creates that strength for the province's tourism industry to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic?

In the 2016 - 2020 period, the province's tourism revenue continuously increased over the years, reaching VND27,131 billion in 2019, more than 2 times higher than 2016. In this period, revenue grew by 26.2% a year. Other key tourism indicators rose by 15-20% a year.

Despite suffering from many adverse impacts due to natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, with outstanding advantages of natural conditions and close attention of all-tiers of authorities, Khanh Hoa tourism industry made great strides in strong development and gradually made Khanh Hoa tourism a bright brand on the tourist map of the whole country, ASEAN region and the world.

Right decisions applied by the province include solutions to restore tourism at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on attracting domestic tourists and then foreign tourists. According to experts, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the trend of close-distance travel will replace cross-country and continental flights. People of all countries need to stay at home to ensure safety and health. Therefore, domestic tourism will be a trend in the coming time.

Accordingly, in 2021 - 2025, Khanh Hoa will focus on building a comprehensive tourism development strategy aimed to diversify the tourist market, with a focus placed on attracting domestic tourists, improving tourist quality, and developing sustainable and professional tourism products. The sector will gradually build the image of Khanh Hoa as a safe, cultured and friendly tourism destination.

In order to compete with other localities and become a truly attractive destination, Khanh Hoa also needs policies to encourage businesses to renew old destinations and add value to services to attract tourists to return to the locality. At the same time, the sector will utilize local advantages to research support policies for community tourism development, develop different types of rural agrotourism, sightseeing to traditional handicraft villages and eco-tourism. The sector also aligns tourism development with conservation and promotion of natural resource values, cultural and artistic heritage values, and environmental protection.

Khanh Hoa province proposed the Government to consider and support investment in transport infrastructure development to create motivation to attract local tourism investment, including Ho Chi Minh City - Nha Trang Expressway and Van Phong - Nha Trang Section of the North-South Expressway in the 2021-2025 period. The province will attract investment capital to expand and upgrade Cam Ranh International Airport and Nha Trang Tourist Port. When completed, these routes and projects will help Khanh Hoa perfect the tourism infrastructure system, speeding up investment and development projects in key tourist areas. The province will diversify and improve appropriate product quality for each market segment; foster public-private cooperation, boost regional connectivity of tourism destinations; and speed up digital transformation in tourism development, especially in market research, marketing and products.

The flexible and active approach of Khanh Hoa's tourism industry has helped businesses overcome difficulties caused by the pandemic and lifted the province's brighter image on the investment map of the country. The above achievements and lessons learned will be the foundation for Khanh Hoa tourism to effectively respond to new challenges and maintain sustainable development momentum.