First foreign tourists land in Viet Nam after 20-month border closure

A Viet Nam Airlines flight carrying 12 foreign tourists from various countries arrived in the central city of Da Nang on November 17.

The flight departed from Seoul, the Republic of Korea and landed at the Da Nang International Airport at 3:55 p.m.

This is the first wave of foreign tourists to Viet Nam in nearly 20 months since the Southeast Asian country closed borders to foreign tourists due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this month, the Government agreed with a pilot roadmap to reopen borders to foreign tourists from November.

Under the phased roadmap proposed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in the first stage, foreign tourists are welcomed to the following four destinations, namely Phu Quoc island of the southern Kien Giang province, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Da Nang, and Quang Ninh.

More destinations will be chosen for the pilot policy from January next year.

Eligible tourists shall be required to have received two COVID-19 vaccine shots or recovered from the disease within the past 12 months before arriving in Viet Nam.

In addition, they must show proof of a negative RT-PCR or RT-LAMP test result taken within 72 hours before departure.