Vietnam to re-open popular tourist spots to vaccinated arrivals from December

From December, Vietnam will open a number of tourist hotspots to vaccinated travellers from “low-risk” countries. According to a Reuters report, the Vietnamese government hopes to follow this with a full re-opening, currently planned for June 2022. The authorities recently confirmed they would re-open the popular island of Phu Quoc to vaccinated tourists from November.

The country has been living with strict border controls since it shut down at the start of the pandemic. The fallout has been a decimated tourism sector, which normally makes up around 10% of the country’s gross domestic product. After welcoming 18 million foreign visitors in 2019, Vietnam received just 3.8 last year. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism generated around US$31 billion in revenue, around 12% of GDP. The country is also struggling with a slow vaccine rollout, having only vaccinated 13% out of a population of 98 million.

From December, the government says vaccinated tourists from select countries will be able to visit the popular beach destination of Nha Trang, the highlands town of Dalat, as well as the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Hoi An and Halong Bay.

“We are only open when it’s truly safe. We are moving step by step, cautiously but flexibly, to adapt to real situations of the pandemic.”

SOURCE: Reuters