Latest Tourism Updates on August 21

This is Authentic Asia’s weekly tourism newsletter. We provide our partners with the latest updates related to the tourism industry at the destinations we deploy including: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

Below is the information for the past week.

Besides the beauty of culture and nature, Vietnam is also known for its rich cuisine. With the desire to spread Vietnamese cuisine to the world, Nguyen Thi Ha An - a young girl has chosen a special way: to craft miniature food models. AFP news agency (France) has just introduced about the story of Ha An's profession.

AFP

According to The Nation, Thailand is ranked as the safest destination in the world to visit during the Covid-19 pandemic. The country tops the list because of its high International Health Regulations (IHR) scores of 85%, average population density and very low Covid-19 cases.

Malaysian news agency Malay Mail reported that Berlin-based travel agency, Tourlane, conducted a study on August 10 to identify safe destinations amid outbreaks. .

The company collected data and analyzed various metrics, including the number of hours of sunshine per day for outdoor activities as well as a 14-day notification of new Covid-19 cases by the Center for Prevention and Control. European Disease Control announced.

In addition, to vote for this list of safe destinations, the data are also included in the population density and IHR scores of each country, assessing the ability to respond to public health risks, emergencies that are of national and international concern.

The top 10 safest destinations in the world according to this ranking are Thailand, Jordan, Polynesia, Greece, Uruguay, Italy, Cambodia, Japan, Ireland and Botswana.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia are supporting the campaign "#TravelThrowback" launched by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to unite the tourism community and promote the beauty of the region.

Accordingly, moving followers are encouraged to share memorable memories when traveling Southeast Asia through the Instagram effects set on the account @Visit_Singapore. They can also challenge friends and relatives to join by tagging them.

"When cross-border restrictions are lifted, travelers tend to travel short term rather than long days. We hope this initiative can showcase Southeast Asian beauty and inspire travelers. come explore "

The campaign attracts Millennials (born from 1981 to 1996) - subjects often choose tourist destinations from a series of photos, Instagram references. Hundreds of thousands of people - regardless of country and region - from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines ... have shared their favorite stories and feelings about the land they used to go through.

The Singapore Tourism Board is cooperating with many partners in Southeast Asian countries to find relevant travel organizations, services and organizations ... to join in initiatives to contribute to the development of the tourism. regional calendar. STB Chief Executive Officer John Conceicao emphasized: "#TravelThrowback is the first step in the effort to promote Southeast Asia tourism, towards recovery".

In particular, the project approved by the Prime Minister allows the pilot to extend the time to organize night service activities to 6 am the next morning at some tourist sites in Hanoi and Quang Ninh. Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hoi An, Thua Thien Hue, Can Tho, Da Lat, Phu Quoc. After that, the model will gradually be rolled out in other locations.

Night economy is concerned, mentioned a lot in recent years and is an inevitable trend of the world tourism industry. Countries with strong tourism strengths have actively opened their nocturnal services to maximize revenues.

Vietnam has favorable conditions for night-time economic development thanks to its rich and diversified tourism resources, unique cultural characteristics, unique cuisine, and attraction to each region, and highly integrated, relatively pleasant nighttime weather, and a large population of young people prefer to live in cities. In recent years, Vietnam is becoming a prominent destination in the eyes of international tourists, having won many of the most prestigious tourism awards in the world.

The preliminary reports from all tourism provincial departments, revealed that the number of tourists who visited tourist destinations across the country from August 17-21, 2020 was about 1,459,386. Of which, 1,445,238 were local tourists and 14,148 foreigners.

The report said most tourists were groups of families who likely visited from one province to another during the holiday.

The report also said many tourist destinations had been creating various events and activities to attract tourists during the holidays. On top of it, the hygiene methods against the global disease COVID-19, have also been placed to curb the second wave of virus spread in the Kingdom.

Food and accommodation prices have not changed significantly, making it convenient for all tourists. Most of the accommodations were full in the holiday period, except some high class hotels for international tourists which remain closed. Those hotels are mostly located in Siem Reap province.

While enjoying the five-day Khmer New Year break compensation, Cambodian people have claimed to feel safe and secure against the COVID-19 pandemic as the preventive measures guided by the Ministry of Health have been carried out well by tourism service providers. There were implementations of COVID-19 preventive measures, especially at hotels, tourist attractions, as well as restaurants, and even at toilets in some service stations along the way.

Hotels strictly recorded  the names, telephone numbers, and addresses of their guests in addition to temperature screening and hand cleaning at the front desk, while all the hotels’ staff have worn facemasks, but some guests were still negligent (without wearing facemasks). At restaurants, even at the beach, alcohol- and gel-based sanitisers have been put on each table for the guests

Khmer Times

The Ministry of Tourism yesterday asked tourism-related businesses to provide the information of their customers by a Telegram bot, as the Khmer New Year replacement holiday is seeing people travelling all over the country amid the pandemic.

On its official Facebook page, the ministry posted a video instructing the owners of tourist boats and buses, resorts, restaurants and lodging businesses to input customer information via the ministry’s Telegram bot “MOT customer information” (@MotInformationBot) to assist in the effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the Kingdom.

After creating an account for his or her business in the bot, which has been designed to interact with users automatically with AI feature, the owner can input the information of his or her clients in either Khmer or English, including their names and phone numbers. The owner can also check the report whenever he or she wants.

According to a report from the Tourism Ministry, by today, the 5-day replacement holiday has brought the Kingdom around 1,100,000 tourists, most of whom are local travellers.

Khmer Times