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Remarks of Consul General for the virtual webinar on Vietnam-India Tourism Cooperation post COVID 19

Posted on: October 28, 2020 | Back | Print

 Remarks for Virtual Webinar on Vietnam – India Tourism Cooperation post COVID 19
(23rd October, 2020; HCMC)

Good Afternoon to all

First of all, I will like to extend our gratitude to Tourism Department, Ho Chi Minh City for partnering with Consulate General of India and Indian Tourism Office, Singapore to host this  tourism webinar whose objective is to exchange experience in tourism sector due to Covid 19 and ways to promote the sector post Covid situation.

Friends, the Covid 19 crisis not only brought disasters to humankind in form of deaths but also large scale disruption to economic interaction mostly to the tourism sector. No country was immune to this disruption including India and Vietnam.  As I understand the tourism sector in Vietnam was affected a lot along with the hospitality sector. India also experienced the same. India use to receive 8-9 million tourists annually including a small chunk of tourists for medical treatment. The sector along with the food & beverage sector, hospitality, aviation all suffered due to measures to contain the infection like quarantine with any physical contact and restriction on travel.

While Ministry of Tourism, GoI is engaging with the service sector to devise new plans to attract both domestic and international tourists to India, it has not succeeded to a large extent due to still restriction on international travel and difficulty in getting visas.

I understand Saigon along with other places like Hanoi, Cantho, Nan Trang used to attract millions of domestic and international tourists.   Now all has stopped and people in this industry are creating alternatives to promote tourism.

I am sure today this event will provide most valuable inputs/ suggestions to promote tourism between both countries. I am hopeful flow of Indian tourists to Vietnam and vice versa will increase a lot in coming days once the air service is resumed.