Self-drive tours between Vietnam and China to resume

Quang Ninh has recently approved a pilot programme on the management of personal vehicles from China to the border city of Mong Cai and vice versa through the Mong Cai International Border Gate.

Previously, the tours of this kind were piloted in September 2016. Until 2019, the time before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, there had been 35 cars carrying 108 Vietnamese tourists to China, and 424 with 1,443 Chinese visitors to Vietnam.

The latest programme is scheduled to last until September 30, 2026. Accordingly, Vietnamese tourists are allowed to drive 600 kilometres into China on the route from Mong Cai, Dongxing, Fangcheng, Liuzhou to Guiline. The cars must undergo sufficient procedures and get documents granted by the Chinese authorities, and follow the lead vehicles from the Chinese side.

Meanwhile, Chinese visitors are able to enter Vietnam's Mong Cai city and Ha Long city, and not allowed to stop at military zones and other restricted areas.

Cars with nine seats or less coming for tourism purposes are eligible to engage in the pilot programme. They must be examined by competent authorities of both sides, get transport licenses, have logo of tour organisers, and follow a predetermined route.

Each group must not exceed 10 automobiles, and is not allowed to stay more than five days for a travel permit. An extension of maximum three days are available in case of broken vehicles and traffic accidents with recognition from relevant authorities.

The border city of Mong Cai is striving to attract around 1.5 tourist arrivals visitors, including over 500,000 foreign ones, by the end of 2023. The city has strengthened the links between ecological tourism sites and promoted maritime and border mountain tourism routes. A range of incentive policies have issued with a view to attracting more investors to local tourism and will organize tourism, cultural, and sports activities to attract more tourists.