Hate the hassle of travelling these days with the multiple testing and increased restrictions? Vietnam is geared up to end all Covid-19 restrictions on international passenger flights from Feb 15. The state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper cited Dinh Viet Son, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam who announced that the frequency of flights will be restored to pre-pandemic level.
Vietnam was one of the countries in Southeast Asia to impose tight border controls at the start of the pandemic to curb the spread of Covid-19. While the strategy worked – Vietnam has been able to keep its case numbers low – the lack of people travelling into the country dealt a blow to its tourism sector. Tourism accounts for about 10 percent of the gross domestic product. And now they are ready to fully reopen again.
Vietnam had already begun gradually resuming international flights with 15 markets from the beginning of this year while easing quarantine requirements, with vaccinated passengers now needing only three days of self-isolation.
Son was also quoted saying that Vietnam has already informed its partners about that new policy and only China has not yet agreed to resume commercial flights with Vietnam. As of now, there are no VTL flights to Vietnam from Singapore but Singaporeans can visit Vietnam for up to 30 days without a visa (and have to comply with its restrictions).