Vietnam is welcoming tourists again - with unclear quarantine and testing rules

HANOI (BLOOMBERG) - Vietnam is poised to welcome international travellers on Tuesday (March 15), but a lack of clarity on the rules of a wider reopening while the coronavirus is still rampaging is causing confusion.

It remains unclear what kind of quarantine and testing rules the South-east Asian nation will impose on foreign visitors when it reopens after a two-year closure. It does not help that Vietnam has been seeing a surge, with daily cases averaging about 165,000 in the past week through March 14.

The tourism resumption was announced on Feb 17 with the government saying it would lift most curbs starting on March 15. But the government has not issued specific guidelines.

It said a month ago that tourists must present proof of being vaccinated or having recovered from Covid-19 with a negative test result; and once landed in Vietnam, must undergo 24 hours of self-quarantine.

In November last year, the country started allowing international travellers on group tours and only to selected destinations provided they were vaccinated or had recovered from the virus, and could show a negative test taken in the past 72 hours or less.

While the Tourism Ministry favoured a quarantine-free broad reopening, the Health Ministry on March 1 proposed ordering tourists to undergo a three-day self-isolation.

A day before Tuesday's reopening, Deputy Premier Vu Duc Dam directed the Health Ministry to "promptly revise regulations and requirements" for foreign tourists and send the proposal to the Tourism Ministry by the end of March 14. Still, there isn't a guidance available on government websites.

The confusion does not help Vietnam's travel industry, Mr Pham Ha, chief executive of Hanoi-based tour operator Lux Group, wrote in a March 9 opinion piece in VnExpress International.

Officials showed some movement on rules on Tuesday by announcing a resumption of 15-day visa exemptions for citizens of 13 countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and South Korea, according to a post on the government’s website.

Visitors from most other South-east Asian countries do not require a visa for up to 30 days, whereas the waiver lasts for 21 days for visitors from the Philippines and 14 days for those from Brunei and Myanmar.

Tourism accounted for 9.2 per cent of gross domestic product in 2019, rising from a 6.3 per cent contribution in 2015, according to government data. Vietnam aims to host 18 million foreign travellers by 2026, matching the number of guests pre-pandemic, according to a report by Tuoi Tre.