The coastal city of Sam Son is deserted and sluggish in the middle of the tourist season

In March 2020, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, causing many tourist sites across the country to temporarily stop welcoming visitors. By August 2020, the city again recorded a positive case of Covid-19, the whole city fell into a state of “freezing”, ending a sad tourist season.

In 2021, brilliant fireworks displays, thousands of people and tourists flock to the opening day of summer tourism. It has been a long time since I have seen a picture of Sam Son crowded with people on the beaches. Those who do tourism services Sam Son expect this summer to be able to “make up for losses” a bit.

However, only after the spectacular fireworks display, the tourists “stand still” when tourists cancel rooms, cancel tours right before the first holiday of the tourist season. Accordingly, during the four-day holiday April 29 to May 2, 2021, Thanh Hoa welcomed 374,000 visitors, and Sam Son alone had 215,000 visitors, down 22% compared to the expected. After the holiday, despite strengthening measures to prevent and control the epidemic and ensure the safety of tourists, Sam Son beach is still quiet.

Along the Ho Xuan Huong route, many hotels are always in a state of “closed doors”. Many bosses are reluctant to temporarily leave employees early because the revenue is not enough to cover the costs. Mr. Hoang Van Tuan, owner of Hanoi 2 Hotel, said that at the beginning of the tourist season, he spent nearly 1 billion VND to repair and refurbish the accommodation facility. However, the number of gloomy guests made him only sigh with boredom.

There are no tourists, a series of restaurant and cafe services are also sluggish. If in previous years, the staff served customers non-stop, this year all fell into a state of anxiety waiting for customers. Even many restaurants are in a dilemma about buying seafood or importing goods. “Importing goods without customers is also bad because if you leave them for a long time, the seafood will no longer be delicious. But if you don’t import goods, you will not be able to meet the service requirements,” a restaurant owner in Sam Son shared .

Affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, tram, taxi and cyclo services also fall into difficulties. Mr. Nguyen Huu Ba (Bac Son ward) has been working as a tram service for 8 years, but never before has he been as free in the early summer as this year. For nearly a week now, he has been driving to the sea in the morning, driving the car back in the evening, but going all day only loses electricity to charge the car.

It is known that in the area of ​​Sam Son city, there are more than 500 trams and hundreds of taxis serving passenger transportation. However, the re-emergence of the Covid-19 epidemic has greatly affected the tourism service workers in particular and the Sam Son tourism industry in general.