Vietnam plans for full reopening in March or April, PM pushes for preparations

Following moves in other Southeast Asian countries to gradually reopen borders to foreign tourists, Vietnam is set to reopen to fully vaccinated tourists around March or April of this year. The country’s PM Pham Minh Chinh says the country needs to prepare to reopen safety, which will be either at the end of March or by the end of April, once target groups have received their booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and certain immigration control regulations are in place.

After nearly two years of border closures, Vietnam’s reopening started in November with a pilot tourism project on Phu Quoc, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. Now the county is planning to fully resume tourism.

The PM’s statements follow a call from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to fully resume tourism by March 31. Eleven airlines and tourism companies had also petitioned the government to outline the agenda by early February.

Those who are travelling to Vietnam must be fully vaccinated and present a negative PCR test within the last 72 hours along with medical insurance that covers a minimum of US$50,000, according to the ministry.

The number of international arrivals dropped by 96% last year when borders were closed, a huge loss for the hotel and tourism industry. Vietnam reopened its borders to a vaccine passport scheme in November and 8,500 foreigners have travelled into the country, with half of them being Vietnamese relatives visiting from outside.

SOURCE: VN Express