US, Europe most interested in Vietnam travel: Google

The frequency of international searches for Vietnam tours has increased sharply since early this year, with people from U.S. and Europe showing the most interest in visiting the country.

In early January, international searches on accommodation facilities in Vietnam increased by 42 percent against the same period last year and the figure climbed to 86 percent early this month with the Vietnamese government announcing plans to fully reopen the borders to foreign tourists from March 31, according to analytical data from Google's Destination Insights.

Searches for international flights to Vietnam in early January increased by 425 percent against the same period the previous year as Vietnam resumed regular commercial flights after two years.

As of February 3, the frequency of searches on international flights increased by 374 percent year-on-year.

Countries with the highest number of searches on Vietnam tourism were the U.S., Australia, Russia, France and Germany.

Vietnam’s aviation industry officially reopened regular flights between Hanoi, HCMC and Bangkok, Phnom Penh, San Francisco, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo from Jan. 1 and restarted some routes to Europe from late last month.

The government started allowing foreign tourists in under a vaccine passport program last November. So far, nearly 9,000 foreign arrivals have been welcomed under the program with several pre-set conditions and constraints, half of them Vietnamese overseas coming to see their relatives.

Under the program, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh, Binh Dinh, HCMC and Da Nang are the only localities foreign tourists can visit.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tuesday to work with relevant agencies to announce a roadmap for full tourism resumption soon.

The reopening should happen no later than the end of April and ideally at the end of March, Chinh said.