Vietnam to lift most curbs on foreign tourists on March 15

HANOI • Vietnam will lift most restrictions on international tourists arriving in the country beginning on March 15, the Tuoi Tre daily newspaper reported on its website, citing an announcement from the government's office.

International tourists must meet all requirements prescribed by the Health Ministry on Covid-19 vaccinations, the newspaper reported, without giving details. Travellers must test negative for the coronavirus before boarding their flights.

Air travellers with suspicious symptoms will be tested at airports in Vietnam, Tuoi Tre added, while other air travellers will have to self-quarantine for 24 hours.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has directed the Tourism Ministry to provide a more detailed plan.

The proposal, which will be submitted to the prime minister for approval, follows similar reopening steps taken by other South-east Asian countries like Thailand and the Philippines, where the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has caused a recent spike in new cases, but fewer hospitalisations and deaths than previous strains.

Vietnam imposed among the world's strictest border controls two years ago as the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe.

It saw some initial success in keeping the virus out of the country, but the policy dealt a blow to its burgeoning tourism sector, which accounted for about 10 per cent of gross domestic product in 2019. Foreign arrivals fell to 157,000 last year, compared with 18 million in 2019.

Vietnam has, since last November, allowed foreign tourists to visit designated places under a vaccine passport programme. It had originally aimed to fully reopen the industry from June this year.

Nearly 77 per cent of its 98 million population has been vaccinated, according to official data, one of the region's highest rates.

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS