Vietnamese tourists are still hesitant about tours to the northern mountainous region.

Foreign tourists take photos at the rocky outcrop near Ma Pi Leng Pass.

Mr. Tuan, a tourist from Hanoi, planned to travel to Ha Giang in October because the weather starts to get nicer at this time of year. However, information about landslides after storm No. 3 has forced tourists to reconsider and choose a safer destination.

After storm No. 3, tourism businesses in Ha Giang have been in a state of stagnation due to the decrease in Vietnamese tourists, with almost no large groups of tourists, mainly foreign tourists traveling independently. Ms. Huyen Anh, the owner of a hotel in Meo Vac, said she has never seen such a lack of guests as this year, despite the beautiful weather.

"After September 2, sometimes for almost a week, my hotel had no guests," said Ms. Huyen Anh, adding that this was a difficult period for tourism businesses in Ha Giang. Most guests had canceled their rooms until October 14 and there were very few new bookings in October.

BiBi Ha Giang Tour, a company that specializes in motorbike tours in Ha Giang, said the number of foreign guests booking in October increased by 30% compared to September because of the beginning of the beautiful season. However, there are almost no Vietnamese guests, many of whom have canceled their services until November.

According to the representative of the Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark management board, Vietnamese tourists avoid mountainous tourist destinations such as Ha Giang because of fear of landslides. During storm No. 3, the loss of life and property in Ha Giang was insignificant. However, in July, Ha Giang suffered landslides in Bac Me and in late September in Bac Quang, causing fear among tourists. The representative of the geopark assessed that it would take time for Vietnamese tourists to stabilize.

Mustgo, an online booking platform with more than 2,000 hotel partners nationwide, recorded a sharp drop in bookings in Ha Giang and Sa Pa in October despite being in peak season. Weekend room occupancy in these two destinations reached around 20-30%, down 40-50% compared to the same period last year.

Landslide near Ma Pi Leng Pass in late September

After storm No. 3, about 90% of Inter Bus Lines passengers on the Hanoi - Sa Pa route were foreigners. The bus company representative said that some foreign passengers had switched from Ha Giang to Sa Pa due to landslides, while Vietnamese passengers were still hesitant. In October, Vietnamese passengers showed signs of returning, but not as many as in previous years, mainly young passengers in groups of friends.

Best Price Travel also saw a 30% decrease in interest in northern mountainous tours compared to the same period last year. Previously, during the time of storm No. 3, the company postponed or canceled services for 80 guests to the Northeast - Northwest region, 40% of guests requested refunds, the rest postponed their trips to October.

Danh Nam Travel said that the East - Northwest alliance that the company participated in suffered losses because it had to cancel a series of tours after Typhoon Yagi, mainly due to fear of customers. Currently, Director Nguyen Ngoc Tung of Danh Nam Travel assessed the situation as more positive when the service supply chain of the East - Northwest points has basically fully recovered. However, traffic in some places has been affected by landslides, creating a big challenge for units wanting to exploit this route.

"Even though it's the best season of the year, we still have to update the situation regularly to balance advertising and tour sales," said Mr. Tung, predicting that it will take about two months for tourism in the northern mountainous region to fully recover so that visitors can travel with peace of mind.

According to many tourism service providers in Ha Giang and Sa Pa, local authorities should have more promotional activities, stimulate demand and widely publicize safe routes to attract Vietnamese tourists back.

Foreign tourists prepare to board the bus from Hanoi to Sa Pa on October 5.

Meanwhile, the two provinces most severely damaged by storm No. 3, Quang Ninh and Hai Phong, have been able to welcome tourists back since October. However, as the weather has started to turn cold and rainy, room occupancy rates in both locations have fluctuated between 15-20%, according to a report by Mustgo. Hotels are also only operating about 50% of their total rooms due to low demand, and 10% of rooms still need repair due to storm damage.

Ms. Luu Thi Thu, Deputy Director of Hoang Viet Travel, commented that the problems caused by storm No. 3 for tourism in the North have basically been resolved after a month. However, the fear of safety and poor experiences of customers has prevented the company from promoting tours. Hoang Viet Travel plans to resume tours in the North only from late November or early December, after the storm and low pressure in the East Sea are no longer active, and rainfall decreases to transition to the dry season.

TH (according to VnExpress)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/khach-viet-van-e-de-tour-mien-nui-phia-bac-395028.html