Phu Quoc plans to welcome tourists in this year-end peak season (Photo: VnExpress)

Vietnam is planning to allow some destinations to welcome back fully-vaccinated foreign visitors in the first steps to revive the tourism industry. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang will be the first destination to welcome foreign tourists under a trial vaccine passport program that will be expanded later to other famous hotspots like the towns of Ha Long, Hoi An, Nha Trang, and Da Lat.

Authorities and businesses in the southern province of Kien Giang expect to welcome foreign visitors to the resort island of Phu Quoc in this year-end peak season when the vaccination scheme for its residents is set to be completed at the end of September. The move came after Politburo gave the green light for piloting a Covid-19 vaccine passport program in late June as the island is one of the best vacation spots in Vietnam that have successfully contained the pandemic, according to Vietnamnet.

Central Highlands province Lam Dong, home to famous resort town Da Lat, reopened tourist destinations, dining, and accommodation services from September 3 to intra-provincial travelers. Starting 5 pm September 3, restaurants, cafeterias, coffee shops, and roadside eateries can serve customers without exceeding half their covers while accommodation facilities from two-star or above have to ensure pandemic prevention measures like having no more than two people per room, according to VN Express.

Provincial authorities also allowed barbershops and beauty salons to resume operation but not exceed half their covers. Since July, Lam Dong authorities have closed all tourist attractions and accommodation as a pandemic prevention measure. Since the fourth coronavirus wave began in late April, Lam Dong has recorded 259 infections.

Central Highlands province Lam Dong, home to famous resort town Da Lat, reopened tourist destinations, dining, and accommodation services from September 3. (Photo: VN Express)

In line with the plan to re-open tourism for international tourists, priority will be given to speeding up the Covid-19 vaccination drive for residents and workers at tourist centers in order to ensure safety for tourists.

Most notably, tourism service establishments and tourist destinations will be required to improve their pandemic prevention capacity and abide by Covid-19 guidelines set out by the Health Ministry, along with facilitating the travel of vaccinated domestic and international visitors.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism will strive to ramp up tourism promotion in a bid to stimulate tourism demand. It will also boost communication campaigns to popularize its twin messages of ‘Vietnamese People Travel in Vietnam’ and ‘Vietnam - A Safe and Attractive Destination,' according to VOV.

The ministry will introduce safe travel procedures and fresh immigration policies and renew promotional tourism schemes, while simultaneously diversifying communication channels via social media, online travel events, and other major international media channels.

Nha Trang also expects to open for tourism. (Photo: Asian Way Travel)

This will see the Ministry effectively co-ordinate efforts with Vietnamese representative agencies located abroad to deploy promotional tourism activities, encourage tourism firms to develop incentive tour packages, and assist them in resuming and expanding markets and selling tourism products.

A primary focus will be on diversifying tourism products in a bid to meet fresh market trends, including culinary tourism, agricultural tourism, eco-tourism, golf tourism golf, and health care travel.

The ministry says the tourism industry will accelerate digital transformation by digitizing a network of tourist attractions, while upgrading tourism applications and building a digital vaccination certification system at www.travelpass.tourism.vn.

Vietnam has closed its borders since last April 2020 to combat Covid-19, and it has therefore received almost no foreign tourists. Several regional countries like Thailand and Singapore have begun to welcome back foreign travelers on the condition that the travelers are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and they test negative before their entry.

Vietnamese enterprises ready to receive foreign visitors The travel and airline enterprises said they were ready to welcome foreign visitors, simultaneously proposed ministries and departments to develop a common set of standards.

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