Vietnam aims to welcome 5 million foreign visitors in 2022

The sector aims to earn VND400 trillion from tourism services this year, Viet told a press briefing on February 23 to announce the National Tourism Year-Quang Nam 2022.

He said the sector is showing signs of recovery after two years of bearing the brunt of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. During the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday ending on February 6, the sector served 6.1 million domestic holidaymakers.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is actively working with relevant ministries and sectors to realize the Government’s recent decision on reopening all borders to international tourism as of March 15, he stressed.

In 2021 the sector still went through the COVID-19 crisis, only serving 40 million domestic visitors and earning about VND180 trillion. It has begun to welcome foreign visitors with vaccine passports since mid-November last year under a pilot scheme approved by the Prime Minister.

However, the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam remains modest, reaching just 9,000 individuals mostly due to health quarantine and visa policies.

From now until the end of March 14, localities will continue to pilot the second phase of welcoming international visitors. From March 15, Vietnam will fully open its doors to international visitors. The visitors are required to comply with conditions on vaccine passports, testing before entry in the first 24 hours, and health self-monitoring during the travel period.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recently proposed the Government restore the unilateral visa exemption policy for visitors from 24 countries as seen in the pre-pandemic period.

It also proposed that foreign visitors test for COVID-19 using rapid antigen test kits, and those who have negative testing results travel freely when they are in Vietnam.

Currently, the Ministry is completing a report for submission to the Government with regard to the reopening of the tourism market from March 15.