Government rejects tourism industry demand for extending National Day holiday

Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung on Wednesday said the extension would require careful consideration of its possible impacts.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and many tourism businesses had recently called for extending the National Day holiday on September 2 from Wednesday to the weekend to boost domestic tourism, which has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dung said since the first Covid-19 cases were detected in January the country has taken a series of measures to prevent infection like letting people work and study online, social distancing and a ban on public gatherings of more than two people.

As a result, there have been too many days off already, he said.

"It is time for us to simultaneously fight the disease and restore production and the labor market. We must maximize production to boost economic growth."

Besides, schools usually open for the year in the first week of September, and extending the National Day holiday would disrupt the opening, he said.

"Due to such fundamental reasons, the ministry’s stance and my personal one is to disagree with the holiday extension proposal. I informed the prime minister, and he also agreed with me."

Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung. Photo by VnExpress/Vo Hai.

National Day commemorates President Ho Chi Minh’s reading of the Declaration of Independence in Hanoi on September 2, 1945.

From 2021 there will be an extra day off for the National Day, either before or after.

The tourism industry has lost an estimated $7 billion in revenues due to the pandemic in January and February, according to data from the General Statistics Office.

That was before the country suspended international flights on March 25.

Vietnam has had 332 Covid-19 cases so far, 15 of them active and all other patients recovering.