At a barber shop in Liverpool, customers flock in droves, making the barbers never rest their hands. The pubs, entertainment areas, parks, and gyms were full of people after more than 3 months of being in silence because of the blockade. “I felt like I was released from prison” Says Kate Asani, a London resident. While Asani was chatting with friends in the afternoon sun at Kilburn pub, the Indian Ministry of Health announced the country had 168,912 new cases. April 12 is also the day when India “regained” the position of the second translation area in the world from Brazil. In a row after that, the number of new cases of the South Asian country in turn pushed the record of the previous days. Currently, India is struggling with the biggest medical crisis in the world and doesn’t know when to stop. The number of cases of COVID-19 in India is still growing rapidly. (Photo: NYT) Contrast picture The contrast between rich countries with oversupply of vaccines and poor countries, short of breath in the vaccine race is becoming clearer than ever. In the early days of May, the US airports were getting ready for a summer that promises to be very bustling when tourists fly back. After a period of closing most stores for COVID-19, Philadelphia International Airport is planning a reopening of 185 food, beverage and retail stores. Jim Tyrell, Philadelphia Airport’s Chief of Revenue, says not only are stores resuming operations, but customers are shopping at the airport more than ever before. Currently, Americans who have the COVID-19 vaccine can fly to many places, including Europe. People who have received the two-dose vaccination can go to a public place without wearing a mask. Major cities in the US have also recently been voiced about reopening. New York officials on May 3 announced plans to “fully open” the city from July 1 to after more than a year of closing due to translation. In Europe in late April, a number of countries began to gradually loosen blockade measures. On April 22, the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office announced the roadmap to reopen the country until August. Accordingly, restrictions on sports and entertainment activities for young people will be gradually lifted from April. The library and museum will reopen in May. The ban on gathering of 10 or more people during outdoor events will be lifted in July and indoor events can start from May. 8. In early May, France eased travel restrictions across the country before allowing businesses, culture and sports facilities to resume phased in from the middle of this month. At the same time, Greece has allowed restaurants to reopen after long closings. Part of the reason that the US, France or the Netherlands confidently chart the reopening route is due to their abundant vaccine inventory. In most developing countries, vaccine orders soared to billions of doses. The number of cases of COVID-19 in this country is also on the decline, people are ready for the upcoming summer vacation. The British danced in celebration as the blockade was eased. (Image: Reuters) Whereas in many developing countries, the virus is still raging, sometimes out of control. Immunization delay due to a shortage of supplies makes these countries unable to protect the most vulnerable. “We are living in a state of inability to defend at all levels” Said Victor Guevara, 72, from Honduras. In many countries, people of his age have priority to be vaccinated, Guevara said. Guevara’s relatives in Houston (USA) have also been vaccinated. But he and many Hondurans still don’t know when he will be on the vaccination list. Honduras – a Central American country with about 10 million people has only injected 59,000 doses. Nepal – India’s neighbor is struggling to cope with the new epidemic wave. Two major state hospitals in the capital, Kathmandu, are facing a serious risk of hypoxia. The Ministry of Health of Nepal acknowledges that the sudden increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country is beyond the capabilities of the health system. “Hospitals have almost run out of beds so the situation is difficult to control”, Nepal’s Ministry of Health said. Similar to India, many corpses of patients with COVID-19 in Nepal have to be cremated outdoors due to overloaded cremation centers and crematoria. In Bangladesh – another neighboring country of India, the government of this country is forced to extend the blockade measures when the disease progresses seriously. The number of deaths in the capital Dhaka increased sharply in recent days, making Rayerbazar – the cemetery for the burial of patients with COVID-19 in this city increasingly narrow. Jasimuddin – the custodian of Rayerbazar said that every day he and others had to prepare in advance for the grave for 15 to 20 bodies. Although starting at the beginning of February, Bangladesh’s immunization campaign is still extremely slow. Those who are lucky enough to get their first shot are not sure when they will get their second shot. In African countries, the COVID-19 mortality rate is rising sharply. Kenya recorded an increase in the number of deaths compared to January of 674%. This rate in Djibouti is 550%. Experts in Africa warn that the crisis in India will soon spread across the black continent. “We don’t have enough medical staff, we don’t have enough oxygen”, Said John Nkengasong, director of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Last week, Brazil became the second country to cross the 400,000 COVID-19 death mark after the US. A shocking statistic in mid-April showed that every minute three Brazilians died of COVID-19. South America – the region is home to 5.5% of the world’s population accounts for 32% of all deaths from the epidemic. “What’s happening is a disaster”, Argentina’s Health Minister Carla Vizzotti said. In India, COVID-19 is still raging, the number of people infected with COVID-19 is still growing rapidly. Due to a shortage of hospital beds, people in the country die in hospital corridors, on roads, in their homes. Parking lots turned into places of cremation. This picture is too much in contrast to the relaxation and freedom in countries with superior immunization rates such as the UK or the US.

It can be said that the next ceremony of April 30 and May 1 will be the time of “slamming” for many Vietnamese. This is clearly shown through the numbers.

According to statistics of many major travel companies, the number of tourists booking tours has reached 50-60% and short-term tours still dominate with destinations such as Sa Pa, Ha Long, Phu Quoc, Da Nang, Da Lat, Con Dao …

Sa Pa Tourism Association said that since the beginning of April 2021, rooms at accommodation establishments for 4 days of 30/4 holidays and 1/5 in Sa Pa have reached about 80%. Many establishments run out of rooms completely on this occasion.

Similarly, Vietravel has sold about 80% of its tour plans for the holidays of April 30 and May 1.

The epidemic COVID-19 is being well controlled, so the tourist spots are almost overloaded on the weekends. Meanwhile, many resorts, homsestay, 3-4 star hotels in Da Lat, Vung Tau, Phan Thiet … announced their room out at the holidays of April 30 and May 1. The airlines also announced “burned” air tickets this holiday.

It can be said that April 30 and May 1 are the first long break, opening the domestic tourism summer and also a golden opportunity for the tourism industry to recover and take off after more than a year of hardships for COVID- 19.

In the summer of 2021, the golden time of domestic tourism is because Vietnam has well controlled the epidemic and the demand for tourism has been compressed for more than a year, waiting for a “boom” moment. If before COVID-19, the domestic tourism market had to share a lot of money to choose to travel abroad, now, this 90 million population market is almost a piece of domestic tourism.

Facing such a great opportunity, the domestic tourism industry needs to make the most of the new difficult opportunity to retain this large number of tourists in the long run. For a long time, some tourist resorts have been doing business in a “snatch” style, only worrying about the immediate benefits, worrying about withdrawing money from visitors without regard to service attitude and service quality. For a long time, a number of tourist spots that are used to welcoming Western tourists have a lot of money and have a “chaste” attitude towards domestic tourists.

If we keep the same way, it is difficult to take advantage and keep the upcoming golden opportunity. It should be understood that at least in the year period, the tourism industry will inevitably still have to rely largely on domestic tourists.

Whether the program “Vietnamese to travel to Vietnam” has been maintained for a long time, creating a habit for domestic tourists or not, it all depends on the stakeholders involved in the tourism industry. If not, as long as the pandemic ends in many countries, a large number of Vietnamese tourists will pull suitcases to travel abroad. There are places where the natural scenery cannot be as beautiful as Vietnam, but the travel service is sure to satisfy them more.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese tourism industry still has to find ways to welcome international tourists while ensuring not to “catch” even the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Countries that depend on tourism have many good ways such as travel corridors, flexible isolation, vaccine passports …

Thailand and Indonesia both give priority to the COVID-19 vaccination for people in the two tourist islands Phuket and Bali, aiming to open to international visitors soon this July. Indonesia will prepare a tourist corridor, establish a “green zone” in Bali for tourists to come and stay, considering a direct flight connecting Bali with well-controlled countries. Meanwhile, the tourism industry in Phuket wants to inject the majority of the island’s population to welcome all international tourists who have vaccinated. Visitors will not have to quarantine or go anywhere as long as they do not leave the island within a week.

Tourism bubbles have been formed as between Taiwan (China) and Palau, Australia and Singapore …

The European Union (EU) member countries have agreed to formally implement the ‘vaccine passport’ initiative towards reopening the tourism industry in the summer of 2021.

In Vietnam, Da Nang is the leading city in this regard. The city tourism industry has selected about 10 leading travel companies to prepare for the welcome guests when the policy of “vaccine passport” from the government.

Facing a precious golden opportunity, the Vietnamese tourism industry is both happy and worried. Glad for the opportunity to revive, worried about how to perform the dual task: well serving the sudden increase in tourists; ensure disease prevention.

Because just one case of COVID-19 in the community in a certain tourist city is a golden opportunity to slip out of hand again, as happened in Danang last year.