Representatives of many travel businesses said that although the power outage situation in Ha Long City (Quang Ninh) has now improved, tourist areas and tourism service establishments are given priority to avoid power outages, the number of visitors to this coastal city has still decreased significantly compared to before.
The lack of tourists in Quang Ninh has made many tourism businesses, restaurants, accommodation... worried. (Photo: NB)
Mr. Ngo Bach - Director of BMV Travel Company, a hotel and tour business unit in Ha Long City - commented: " The number of visitors in recent days has certainly decreased significantly compared to previous years. Many restaurants and hotels are empty. With few visitors, many ships are also stuck at the port. Travel companies have many unsold tour and travel combo products despite being advertised vigorously. Compared to previous years, this year Ha Long is very empty, especially in recent days, after the recent power outage."
According to Mr. Bach, like many other localities, Ha Long had a power outage in early June, right at the beginning of the peak summer season for beach tourism. Therefore, the power outage caused many tourists to Ha Long to have bad experiences. These tourists shared the information on social networking sites, causing tourists who had not yet arrived to know the information to change their direction and not go to Ha Long anymore for fear of a power outage.
CEO of BMV Travel analyzed: “ Tourists to Ha Long often travel for short periods of time, and their travel plans are close to their departure time. For example, tourists who want to travel to Ha Long on weekends only need to plan about a week in advance. When they learn about negative information about the power outage in Ha Long, they are willing to change their decision to go to other places. The fact that customers have canceled their tours in recent days has been very common among tourism businesses exploiting the Quang Ninh market .”
Agreeing with the above comment, Mr. Pham Hoang Long, owner of Cat Vang restaurant (Bai Chay ward), said that the electricity supply to some scattered tourist spots in Ha Long city is still not really effective, still seriously affecting the tourism industry. " Tourists coming here cannot sit and search for places with power outages and places without power outages to go to. They come here to have fun, no one stays in a hotel all day just because there is electricity there. The benefit of tourists is that wherever they go, they must enjoy the best services and the most legitimate benefits," said Mr. Long.
Ha Long streets are deserted due to few tourists. (Photo: NB)
Mr. Long is concerned that if there are no immediate solutions to improve the power outage situation in Ha Long and widespread information is not provided to the people and tourists, Quang Ninh tourism will face a summer that will not reach the expected number of visitors.
“Normally, Quang Ninh has three peak months every year, the peak being June, July and August. We look forward to these three summer months the most all year round, but now the entire tourism industry and its associated services are at risk of being seriously affected,” said Mr. Long.
According to information from the People's Committee of Van Don district (Quang Ninh), the number of visitors to Minh Chau - Quan Lan tourist area has decreased by about 35%, only about 12,700 tourists/week compared to the time before the power consumption reduction. This number is forecast to continue to decrease in the following weeks if the power reduction continues. The unstable and frequent power supply not only reduces the revenue from service activities but also negatively affects the tourism image of the locality, reducing the number of visitors during the peak summer season.
During peak tourist season, island communes in the area often welcome 19,000 - 19,500 tourists/week, so the district has sent a document requesting the Provincial People's Committee, Department of Industry and Trade, and Quang Ninh Electricity Company to pay attention and prioritize full-time electricity supply for the Quan Lan - Minh Chau provincial tourist area.
Immediately after that, the Standing Committee of Quang Ninh Provincial Party Committee agreed to establish the Provincial Power Supply Steering Committee, directing the priority of power supply to key sectors, including tourism. Thanks to that, the province's key tourist destinations were recorded to be more bustling over the past two weekends, with the center of Ha Long City welcoming about 20% more visitors than the same period last week.
Previously, answering VTC News about the situation of widespread power outages, Mr. Pham Ngoc Thuy - Director of Quang Ninh Department of Tourism said that immediately after realizing the shortcomings, the authorities of Quang Ninh province sent a petition to the electricity industry to fix it as soon as possible.
“The power outage was most intense on June 3, a common occurrence in many localities across the country. We identified tourism as a key industry of the locality, so we worked with the electricity industry to come up with a reasonable plan to ensure business conditions to best serve tourists. As a result, on June 5 and 6, the power outage no longer occurred on a large scale, and has initially become more stable. Tourists can rest assured when coming to Ha Long in the coming days,” Mr. Thuy informed.
Thanh Lam
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