As the strongest storm to hit the North in the past 30 years, super typhoon Yagi left behind numerous serious damages in the economic and tourism sectors... After the storm passed, hotels in Hai Phong and Quang Ninh had to struggle to find ways to overcome the consequences as well as return to business.
In Hai Phong City, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, owner of Sand Hotel (90 Nui Ngoc, Cat Ba town, Cat Hai district) said that her hotel is a 3-star hotel with 32 rooms. The facilities were severely damaged, the glass at the swimming pool and on the floors was broken, and the solar energy system for hot water was broken.
In addition, the hotel also had to refund deposits to many guests who had booked rooms but canceled and were unable to travel due to natural disasters.
"The damage to our facilities is about 200 million VND, and the uncountable damages such as losing customers and not being able to receive guests cannot be estimated," Ms. Hoa shared with Lao Dong.
Ms. Hoa said that during the storm, the hotel tried to support food and services for the Western tourists stuck on the island due to the storm. Due to the loss of telecommunications network, the guests were given priority to pay for their rooms after returning to the mainland.
"At that time, I told the customer to write down the account number, return home and transfer the money, but I haven't heard back from them yet," Ms. Hoa shared, both laughing and crying.
According to Ms. Hoa, repairing and overcoming the consequences of the storm faced difficulties in terms of human resources and capital. She hired workers to measure, calculate, and almost start over in some parts of the hotel, but the implementation process had to wait until the power supply was stable again.
Quang Ninh is also a province directly affected by storm No. 3 Yagi. According to statistics, the total damage caused by the storm in Quang Ninh is estimated at about 23,700 billion VND. Of which, Co To island district is one of the places seriously affected, with damage of more than 192 billion VND.
Ms. Pham Thi Mang, owner of Thanh Mang Hotel (Nguyen Trai Street, Zone 4, Co To Town) said that her hotel suffered great damage.
"After the storm, the hotel's 6th floor was almost completely damaged: the plaster ceiling collapsed, the corrugated iron roof flew off, the power system broke, the washing machine, dryer, water tank were broken... estimated damage was from 200 to 300 million VND."
Ms. Mang commented that, besides human resources issues, the most difficult thing for hotels is to recover economically after natural disasters.
"I earn several hundred million dong a year, but now I spend it all on renovations and repairs, which is considered free work. Almost all hotels in the area are borrowing money from banks and have to worry about paying interest," Ms. Mang shared.
Currently, many hotels in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong have returned to normal operations. Only a few hotels have unstable power sources and are too severely damaged to remain closed pending repairs.
As of September 13, the Department of Tourism of Quang Ninh province reported that 11/12 districts, towns, and cities in the province have recognized tourist destinations that are ready to welcome visitors back after storm No. 3.
Up to now, Quang Ninh has basically completed cleaning and sanitation on the streets; deployed support for people to repair houses with blown-off roofs or collapsed houses; restored power to over 80% of customers; restored mobile waves and internet to 100%.
In Hai Phong, the Dong Bai - Cai Vieng ferry route connecting Cat Hai Island with Cat Ba Island and the Cat Hai - Phu Long cable car route have resumed operations since September 9 to serve the travel needs of residents and tourists.
However, some other tourist destinations still need time to recover before welcoming visitors again.
