Coronavirus may cost Vietnam’s tourism industry up to $7.7 billion

At the Hanoi meeting organised by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, official warned that number of international travelers would drop sharply due to the disease during the upcoming months, according to Voice of Vietnam Radio.

It is expected that, Vietnam will receive at least 2 million fewer visitors from China, which is the country’s biggest tourism market. The industry’s revenue may face a drop of $1.8 billion to $2 billion revenue from Chinese tourists.

Last year, Vietnam received 18 million international traveller and tourists from China account for a third of the foreign tourists. The Vietnamese government decided to suspend granting visa to Chinese tourist and halt all flights between Vietnam and the epidemic-hit country.

At the meeting, tourism officials proposed specific solutions to the market including tourism promotion programs. Service discount, free tickets to stimulate tourism sector after the nCoV epidemic is controlled.

Vietnam confirmed an additional case of the new coronavirus on Friday night, bringing the total infected in the Southeast Asian country to 13 cases.

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