Customers postpone or cancel tours
Mr. Bui Thanh Tu - Marketing Director of Best Price - said that only tourists who bought and booked air tickets to areas affected by the storm had to change or cancel their schedules.
This company has many groups of about 100 foreign tourists planning to travel to Ha Long on September 7-8. Some customers changed their schedules, some wanted to cancel the tour and will be refunded. "This is a big storm, announced in advance, so the company suffered mainly economic losses, not having to deal with unexpected problems related to tourists or during the tour," he said.
The business representative affirmed that in cases of force majeure, the business must always take responsibility and ensure the rights of customers.
Some other units said that the number of domestic tourists going on tours was not affected too much, because the storm hit after the September 2nd holiday - the peak period ending the peak summer tourist months.
Remedial action
According to preliminary statistics, Ha Long International Passenger Port suffered a lot of damage caused by storm No. 3 Yagi. Many trees and billboards were knocked down, the number of which is currently unknown. In particular, berths No. 2 and 3 of the port were severely damaged.
Some pontoons have sunk, torn, overturned or drifted to the embankment. However, the management board has not been able to access them to make statistics due to heavy rain and strong winds. The port will quickly fix the problem, repair the facilities, and reinforce the equipment to be ready to welcome guests again.
Sun World Ha Long Park in Bai Chay area also suffered some infrastructure damage. About 90% of the trees in the campus were knocked down, broken or uprooted. In the management buildings, plaster ceilings, glass, signs, etc. were also knocked down due to strong winds. Currently, the park is actively assessing the damage to come up with a solution.
“The safety of our staff and visitors is our number one priority. After assessing the current situation and fully resolving the problem, we will soon reopen in the safest conditions so as not to affect the visitor experience,” said a representative of Sun World Ha Long Park.
According to a representative of Van Don airport, despite having deployed a series of disaster response measures, the airport still suffered heavy damage to its facilities due to the destructive power of super typhoon Yagi.
Some of the glass roofs of the departure terminal were peeled off, and the glass cladding in some areas was blown away by the wind. 80% of the trees in the public area were broken. Some of the signs for the departure and arrival terminals were peeled off, and the ceiling system in some areas was blown away by the wind. The metal roof of the internal parking lot was completely peeled off.
Similar damage was reported at Noi Bai International Airport and Cat Bi Airport. Preliminary estimates put the number of flights affected by Typhoon Yagi at 145 domestic and international flights, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.
Immediately after the wind reduced its intensity, Van Don airport quickly began troubleshooting work overnight, including: Checking affected facilities and mobilizing all forces to repair and reinforce to ensure the safest flight conditions to welcome passengers back.
“This is the first time Van Don airport has responded to a natural disaster that caused such serious damage to the entire Quang Ninh area. We have also learned many lessons in responding to incidents and will improve our disaster response process, ensuring that we can adapt to all situations,” affirmed Mr. Hoang Van Dung, Director of Van Don airport.
After Typhoon Yagi passed, airports in localities affected by the storm such as Van Don (Quang Ninh), Tho Xuan (Thanh Hoa), Noi Bai (Hanoi), Cat Bi (Hai Phong) reopened from the evening of September 7 and the early morning of September 8.
