A number of travel firms in Ho Chi Minh City have resumed outbound tours after the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) announced the removal of restrictions on air passenger transport.
A corner of Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: NDO)
Saigontourist has restored its tours to the US, the Maldives, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Thailand, and planned to launch more tours to Europe, the Middle East, Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia in March.
It has also increased outbound travel insurance coverage to 2.4 billion VND (105,124 USD) and COVID-19 insurance to 240 million VND, and cover the cost of COVID-19 PCR tests (if any) for tourists.
Vietravel is also working to complete its outbound tours, with a charter flight to India in late February, and another to Dubai next month.
Meanwhile, Golden Smile Travel has offered tours to Dubai and Thailand weekly, and will resume tours to other markets like Southeast Asia, Australia and the US in the time ahead.
According to Nguyen Viet Anh, head of the management division under the municipal Department of Tourism, the department has provided consultancy for the municipal People’s Committee to issue guidelines on welcoming back international tourists.
The department has announced the list of hotels eligible to serve foreign tourists. They include InterCotinental Saigon in District 1, Windsor Plaza Hotel in District 5, Liberty Central Saigon Center in District 1, Ramana Saigon in District 3, and Silverland Sakyo in District 1.
Vietnam will fully reopen tourism and lift travel restrictions from March 15. International visitors do not need to register for a tour, but still have to present a certificate of full vaccination or recovery from COVID-19, and negative test results before boarding (24 hours for rapid test and 72 hours for PCR test). Within 24 hours of arrival in Vietnam, they must have a negative test result before participating in tourism activities.
