Many Russian tourists come to Nha Trang City in February 2020
According to a pilot plan announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, some provinces and cities including Phu Quoc, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Danang, and Quang Ninh can receive overseas visitors with Covid-19 vaccine passports and negative Covid-19 testing results from November. These tourists can register for package tours of less than seven days or over seven days and can begin the tours right after their arrival. Those who register for tours of more than seven days must take another Covid-19 test on the 7th day and can continue their tours if the test results come negative.
Tourists following these package tours are not allowed to travel freely and are advised to limit contact with people from other tourist groups.
The plan has not been welcomed by local travel companies who think it is only suitable for some Asian tourists coming on short tours but not for those from Russian and European markets who usually come on long tours.
A representative from Anex Vietnam Travel and Trading Company which serves Russian tourists said that this plan is more suitable for visitors from some Asian countries like China, South Korea and Japan who usually come on short tours of between 4-6 days.
"It will be difficult to attract tourists from Russia and English-speaking countries who usually go on tours of more than 10 days," he said. "I think this kind of package tour which bans them from coming into contact with local people to learn about local culture and customs won't attract them. The limited number of tourism products in Phu Quoc, as well as other destinations, means that visitors will not have many activities to do besides laying on the beaches, playing golf or visiting a few sites."
According to Anex Vietnam, they used to receive over 30,000 Russian tourists to Vietnam before the Covid-19 pandemic. The company had expected to have between 3,000-5,000 tourists in the first two weeks after the pilot plan took effect. But they haven't been able to organise tours due to the limited number of customers.
"We've only received some 20-30% bookings for the flights of between 300-400 seats," the company said. "And we've had to cancel all the tours."
Anex Vietnam said that they will only be able to resume operation when local tourist destinations are fully open to international tourists.
Predictions from some travel companies show that Vietnam tourism industry can recover by between 30-40% in 2022 and 70% in 2023 compared to the pre-pandemic period in 2019.