The International Flight Question

Are tourists returning this month?

Hello! Welcome to the latest Vietnam Weekly edition for paying subscribers. Today I’m breaking down the latest developments related to international flights, both in terms of tourists and Vietnamese citizens or resident foreigners wishing to return to the country. You can subscribe to receive future articles for US$5/month or US$50/year below.

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The Tourism Waiting Game

While Vietnam’s COVID-19 numbers are going in the wrong direction again, we’ve reached the point where there’s no going back on discussions about resuming international flights and tourism in some form.

The tourism sector, which brought in almost US$33 billion in 2019, has been wiped out by the pandemic, with a VnExpress survey finding that just 4% of respondent companies in the industry are still operating normally.

Through the first 10 months of 2021, 125,100 foreign arrivals were recorded, down 96.7% year-on-year (and 2020 saw an enormous drop from 2019, so these numbers are extremely bad).

It’s not surprising, then, that there is an ongoing push to resume international tourism. The outbreak which began in late April completely derailed plans for months, and we’ve already seen Phu Quoc’s anticipated (very limited) opening pushed from October to this month.