The fully vaccinated travelers from South Korea will spend
their holidays in hotel resorts without a mandatory 14-day quarantine. They
were tested on arrival, and once the negative results are returned, they can
join activities on the island including sightseeing, shopping and entertainment
events that require vaccine certificates.
“The program is among the country’s efforts to revive its
tourism industry while reopening and developing the economy step by step under
a new normal context,” said Nguyen Trung Khanh, chairman of Vietnam’s
Administration of Tourism who welcomed the charter flight on the airport
tarmac.
According to the Health Ministry, all staff members working
in service facilities and 99% of Phu Quoc’s adult residents have been fully
vaccinated for COVID-19. The island is planning to vaccinate children aged 12
to 17 next month.
Vietnam closed its border in March 2020, shortly after
confirming its first COVID-19 case.
Since then, it only allowed only several international
flights a week with foreign experts, diplomats and returning Vietnamese
nationals. Those international arrivals must undergo a 14-day quarantine in
designated hotels or government-run facilities.
Vietnam is the latest Asian nation to start opening up to
fully vaccinated visitors. Thailand had begun by limiting tourists to its
southern Phuket island before expanding to other areas, including Bangkok,
since Nov. 1. The Indonesian island of Bali opened to arrivals last month with
some restrictions including testing and a five-day hotel quarantine, and
Malaysia opened up Langkawi island under a pilot bubble program. -AP
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