Vietnam plans to fully reopen international tourism from 30th March
On 3rd February, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, at the first meeting of the Government in Lunar New Year of Tiger, discussed the preparation to safely reopen tourism.
Vietnam is likely to fully reopen its door to international tourism 30th March
Previously, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism proposed for Vietnam to completely recover both inbound and outbound tourism, starting March 31 to welcome international tourists coming and let Vietnamese travel abroad through all means of transport.
Accordingly, the PM suggested that Vietnam should prepare thoroughly to reopen for foreign tourists arriving as soon as possible, no later than 30th April to 1st May 2022, and should try from 30th March if possible.
Right after Tet holiday, Vietnam continued the spring vaccination campaign with more than 782,000 doses in 30 provinces and cities. In general, up to now, the pandemic situation is basically under control nationwide. The pandemic prevention and control work is gradually achieving positive results.
During Lunar New Year 2022, aviation operations are reported to increase by 77% in passenger volume and 15.8% in cargo transported. Both trade and travel activities of people on Tet holiday are basically going smoothly.
There were 11 airlines and travel firms last week petitioning the government to announce by early February the timeline for fully reopening borders to foreign tourists.
With borders closed, the number of oversea visitors declined dramatically to only 4% in 2021, affecting heavily the hospitality and tourism industries.
Since November, 2021 the government has allowed abroad visitors to arrive under a vaccine passport program. There were around 8,500 foreign arrivals entering Vietnam under the program with some prerequisites and constraints. Half of them were Vietnamese overseas arriving to visit their relatives.
The PM said that ideal time to reopen tourism would be after certain subjects have received their 3rd dose of Covid-19 vaccine and Vietnam prepares appropriate immigration control policies.
Foriegn tourists arriving in Vietnam must be either fully vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19. They must have a negative PCR test within 72 hours upon arrival, and have medical insurance that covers Covid-19 treatment with at least $50,000. The regulations for children and unvaccinated arrivals would be announced later.
