HANOI: Two hundred vaccinated foreign tourists arrived in Vietnam's beach-fringed island of Phu Quoc on Saturday, the first wave of visitors to the country in nearly two years as it seeks to resurrect its pandemic-ravaged tourism economy.
Vietnam imposed tight border controls at the start of the pandemic in an effort to keep out Covid-19, with some initial success, but that harmed its burgeoning tourism sector, which typically accounts for about 10 per cent of gross domestic product.
Vaccinated tourists now do not have to undergo mandatory two-week quarantine, according to the authorities, but are required to enjoy their holiday only inside the mega complex resort Vinpearl and will be tested twice during their trip.
"This is the first and vital step to revive our tourism sector and to prepare for the full resumption next year," Nguyen Trung Khanh, chairman of the country's tourism administration said in statement.
"We want to offer tourists a new experience amid new normalcy which they can live fully in Phu Quoc and then live fully in Vietnam," Khanh added.
The island's authorities expect to welcome 400,000 domestic and international tourists to the end of this year.
Other Vietnamese destinations such as the Unesco world heritage site Hoi An and Danang beach are also welcoming international tourists back.
The move follows similar steps taken by neighbouring Thailand, which hosted vaccinated foreign tourist for quarantine-free holiday earlier this month.
Foreign arrivals to Vietnam slumped from 18 million in 2019, when tourism revenue was $31 billion, or nearly 12 per cent of its GDP to 3.8 million last year.
Vietnam, which has inoculated more than half of its 98 million people, is seeking to resume international commercial flights from January next year and eyeing a full tourism reopening from June.
Ahead of reopening, staff at Vinpearl resort -- where the arrivals are staying -- swept beaches, arranged cutlery on tables and laid out sunbeds. Others busied themselves painting delicate flowers on conical hats. "When we heard visitors were coming back, I was just so excited," said duty manager Ngo Thi Bich Thuong.
Before the pandemic in 2019, around five million people, including half a million foreigners -- mostly from China, South Korea, Japan and Russia -- holidayed on Phu Quoc. Vingroup -- the enormously powerful conglomerate behind the new complex -- is pushing to make the island: "a new international destination on the world tourist map".
To cater for the tourist boom, 40,000 hotel rooms have been built, planned or are under construction, vice chairman of the vietnam Tourism Advisory Board Ken Atkinson said -- "that's more hotel keys than they have in Sydney, Australia".
Globally popular vacation spots such as Thailand's Phuket have given Vietnam something to aim for.
Atkinson took a group of senior Vietnamese government officials there in 2005 -- but while Phuket's vibrant international tourist scene took years to build up: "vietnam has a tendency of wanting to do everything all at once", he noted.
"Unfortunately I don't think there was enough attention given to what would be in the long-term benefit of the island," he added.
Phu Quoc is a Unesco biosphere reserve -- surrounding waters are stuffed with coral reefs and its beaches were once nesting spots for Hawksbill and Green turtles.
But no nesting has taken place in recent years, the UN body said in their last assessment in 2018.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has warned of "an almost unimaginable flood of plastic" that chokes rivers, canals and sea life.
Around 160 tons of trash -- almost enough to fill 16 trucks -- is generated every day, according to WWF, which says the island's waste management is not fit to cope with the tourism explosion. "More and more tourists are very conscious of the environment. They don't want to be going to places where beaches are littered or where effluent is going into the sea," Atkinson warned. - AFP
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