Vietnam’s central province of Khanh Hoa has approved a plan to welcome back fully vaccinated foreign tourists under a trial vaccine passport program starting this November.
In the first phase of the plan from November until the end of the year, foreign tourists would arrive in chartered flights and stay in sequestered beach resorts on Long Beach in Cam Ranh Peninsula, around 45 kilometers from Nha Trang Town.
In the second phase starting early next year till March, they would be allowed to visit more tourist destinations on islands in the Nha Trang Bay.
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Hotels and resorts will be required to have a separate area for international tourists besides isolated testing and quarantine areas.
All employees at facilities accommodating tourists must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or furnish a certificate showing they’d contracted and recovered from it. They would be tested every three days to ensure safety for the international visitors.
The foreign tourists would need to furnish a certificate showing they are fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved by Vietnam, with the second shot at least 14 days before the date of entry.
Those who had contracted and recovered from Covid and visitors under 18 with a negative Covid certificate within 48 hours before departure would also be allowed entry.
The provincial tourism department has been asked to prepare the pilot program in detail by the end of this month before submitting it to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh for approval.
The province, home to tourist hotspots Nha Trang and Cam Ranh besides other attractions, has basically brought the pandemic under control. It also plans to reopen intra-provincial tourism from mid-October.
Khanh Hoa recorded over 7,600 cases in the ongoing fourth Covid-19 wave that has infected over 740,000 people in Vietnam since late April.
Over 800,000 people aged 18 and above in Khanh Hoa have been vaccinated. It estimated that 100 percent of the province’s adult population would have got at least one dose of a Covid vaccine by the end of this month.
Vietnam closed its borders and canceled all international flights in March last year. Only Vietnamese repatriates, foreign experts, diplomats, investors, and highly-skilled workers have been allowed since with stringent quarantine requirements, according to VNExpress.
Nha Trang is a coastal resort city in southern Vietnam known for its beaches, diving sites and offshore islands. Its main beach is a long, curving stretch along Tran Phu Street backed by a promenade, hotels and seafood restaurants. Aerial cable cars cross over to Hòn Tre Island, and the nature reserves of Hòn Mun and Hòn Tằm islands, reachable by boat, have coral reefs.
