Vietnam prepares to pilot welcoming international tourists

The successful pilot of international arrivals in Phu Quoc will open up opportunities for other destinations in Vietnam

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has just launched a plan to implement policies to stimulate demand and restore tourism and travel activities in late 2021 and early 2022.

According to the plan, domestic and international tourists with internationally-recognised vaccination certificates will be able to travel to a number of destinations in Vietnam.

Phu Quoc (Kien Giang) is the first locality to pilot international visitors on October 1. After the successful pilot, the programme will be gradually expanded to Halong (Quang Ninh), Hoi An (Quang Nam), Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa), and Dalat (Lam Dong).

The tourism industry will continue to implement stimulus campaigns such as "Vietnamese people travelling in Vietnam", Vietnamese tourism is safe and attractive which have brought high efficiency in the summer of 2020, and at the same time support businesses in promoting and selling demand-stimulating products at preferential prices.

Tourism products in this stimulus campaign will be associated with post-COVID-19 trends such as sustainable tourism, tourism with nature, healthcare, and safe tourism. In addition, products of night tourism, cuisine, eco-tourism, golf, among others are also invested and developed.

To carry out the stimulus campaign, the tourism industry will upgrade existing applications, such as the "Safe Vietnam tourism" app, a medical declaration system and a vaccination certification system as well as an information system about tourism sites.

Users of the "Safe Vietnam tourism" application can look for safe destinations, updating disease information in localities, digital maps of safe tourism, tracking health, travel insurance, e-tickets, shopping services, manage booked tours, and discover new destinations.

The ministry also proposed solutions for businesses to get preferential loans to restore business, pay employees' wages, conduct market research, develop new products and services, and exempt and reduce taxes to support digital transformation and training.

Earlier, in the conclusion of the August regular government meeting held on September 6, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directed a pilot program to attract international tourists to the southern island of Phu Quoc, expecting 2-3 million arrivals until the end of the year.

Target markets are those with high rates of COVID-19 vaccination such as China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, and France.