The recent national holiday weekend saw Hanoi's visitor numbers plummet in the face of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Vietnam News reports that just 28,473 people visited the capital over the four-day break, a 92% drop compared to the same period last year.
Specifically, 1,473 international tourists were in the capital, down 97.2% compared to last year, while roughly 27,000 domestic tourists visited, a 90.3% year-on-year reduction. Revenue from these visitors was estimated at VND91 billion (US$3.8 million), 85.2% less than the figure from the 2019 Reunification Day and Labor Day holidays.
Meanwhile Vietravel, one of the country's largest tour companies, reported US$1.7 million in losses in the first quarter of this year due to the pandemic. The company's revenue fell by 40% year-on-year.
Across the country, beaches and other tourist attractions have started to re-open. Nha Trang opened its public beach for the holiday weekend, but mandated that all visitors wear masks and avoid gatherings of more than 30 people. Officials in Quang Ninh Province re-opened Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay, in addition to public beaches in the area.
Sam Son beach in Thanh Hoa Province and Cua Lo beach in Nghe An Province were also open for the holidays and saw tens of thousands of visitors. Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, meanwhile, has not re-opened its public beaches.
According to VnExpress, Da Nang saw just 5,800 tourists last weekend, down 98.5% compared to the 2019 holidays.
