Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam could welcome 6 to 8 million foreignvisitors this year if COVID-19 remains under control and international tourismcould be resumed in the third quarter of this year, a webinar in Hanoi on June10 heard.

The figure would be 4.5 to 5 million if foreign visitors are allowed toenter in the fourth quarter.

Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism(VNAT) Nguyen Le Phuc said
foreign arrivals in Vietnam reached just 3.7 million in the first fivemonths of this year, down more than 50 percent year-on-year.

The number of domestic travellers in the period was only 16 milliondomestic visitors, down 58.5 percent. Tourism revenue plunged 47.4 percent year-on-year,to 150.3 trillion VND.

As domestic tourism has resumed, the number of domestic tourists isforecasted to reach 60 to 65 million this year.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Tien Phong (Pioneer) newspaper Phung CongSuong said that after three months of struggling with the pandemic, the domestictourism sector is now recovering and a new programme, “Vietnamese people travelin Vietnam”, launched by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in earlyMay, has helped partly revived the sector.

Representatives from Vietnam Airlines, Sun Group, Vietravel, andFlamingo told the webinar they are preparing for the recovery of the tourismsector. The national flag carrier opened domestic routes in May and June tomeet demand, while travel and hospitality operators have offered discountsalong with quality and new products.

General Director of the Flamingo Redtours JSC Nguyen Cong Hoan said itis a “golden time” to stimulate tourism./.