Hoi An city, a famous destination in central Quang Nam province, has suspended tourism activities to curb the spread of COVID-19 (Photo: VNA)
The VNAT said on July 29th that in a recent document sent to tourism authorities, its General Director Nguyen Trung Khanh ordered them to make sure that local travel firms and tourists regularly update themselves on the COVID-19 situation and seriously comply with directions by the Government, the national steering committee on COVID-19 prevention and control, the Ministry of Health, and local People’s Committees.
Provinces and cities nationwide have to maintain hotlines to stay connected with tourism businesses and travellers so as to have a good grasp of the situation and take actions to address difficulties facing them in a timely manner.
While the localities with confirmed cases need to follow the Health Ministry’s recommendations, tourism service providers have to seriously adhere to regulations set by relevant authorities and carry out measures to ensure safety for tourists and prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to the VNAT.
It also asked other localities to swiftly activate COVID-19 prevention and control procedures for different groups such as tourists, travel firms, accommodation facilities, tourism service providers, and their staff as directed by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the VNAT.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Vietnam currently stands at 459, including nine new locally infected ones confirmed on July 30th morning.
More than 75,000 enterprises enter the market in July
Although the number of newly-established enterprises in July decreased 3.8% from the previous month, capital registered to enter the market increased sharply by 72%, according to a report of the General Statistics Office on July 29th.
Photo for illustration. (Source: VNA)
Totaling seven months, the country had 75,200 enterprises registered for establishment, a year-on-year reduction of 5.1%. Particularly, the number of enterprise recovering operations soared 17.6%, while those suspending operations to await for dissolution declined 12.2% and those completing procedures for dissolution dropped 4.5%.
“These showed positive signals from the policy of supporting enterprises and the plan of recovering the country’s economy after the COVID-19 epidemic,” according to the report.
In July alone, the country saw 13,200 new enterprises enter the market with a total registered capital of more than VND239.2 trillion and 91,400 workers. The figures represented a 3.8% reduction in the number of enterprises, a 72% rise in registered capital and a 8.7% decrease in the number of workers from the previous month.
This month witnessed 4,839 enterprises recovering operation, down 3.2% against June but up 79% over a year earlier.
In addition, 3,068 enterprises suspended operations to await for dissolution, 1,504 enterprises completed procedures for dissolution, and 4,591 enterprises did not operate at the registered addresses.
Trade surplus hits USD1 billion in July
The trade balance of goods in July saw a surplus of USD1 billion. This contributed to bringing the surplus for the first seven months of the year to USD6.5 billion, according to the General Statistics Office.
Photo for illustration
Specifically, the domestic economic sector had a trade deficit of USD11.1 billion while the foreign-invested sector, including crude oil, recorded a trade surplus of USD17.6 billion.
The office said that export turnover of goods in July was estimated at USD23 billion, a 1.9 increase against June. Of which, the domestic economic sector bagged USD8.5 billion, up 12.6%, while the foreign-invested sector, including crude oil, earned USD14.5 billion, up 1.5%.
Compared to the same period last year, export turnover this month increased slightly by 0.3%; including an increase of 10.6% of the domestic economic sector and a reduction of 4.9% of the foreign-invested sector
In the seven months, export turnover reached an estimated USD145.79 billion, a year-on-year rise of 0.2%. This figure includes USD50.76 billion of the domestic economic sector, up 13.5%, and USD95.03 billion of the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil), down 5.7%.
During the period, 23 commodity items bagged an export turnover of over USD1 billion, accounting for 87% of the total. Of this, telephones and components had the highest turnover of USD25.7 billion. It was followed by electronics, computers and devices, USD23.1 billion; garments and textiles, USD16.2 billion; machinery, equipment, and spare parts, USD12.4 billion; and footwear, USD9.5 billion.
Most agricultural products saw reduction in export turnover compared to the same period last year./.