Post-Covid Travel Trend: Vietnam Plans to Open Phu Quoc Island for International Tourists!

Why Phu Quoc Island?

Inspired by the idea “Phuket Sandbox”, the plan of opening Phu Quoc as a new beginning for Vietnam tourism after the pandemic was born. This island has all features of a good sandbox, such as:

• It’s large (the biggest island in Vietnam).
• It’s far from the mainland
• The transport between Phu Quoc and the mainland is easy to control
• It has an international airport
• There’s a huge number of resorts and hotels here ready to serve tourists

Amazing Phu Quoc Island

When will Phu Quoc be opened for international tourists?

In the beginning, the Vietnam government had a plan to open Phu Quoc in October 2021. However, on 21st Sept 2021, after such a long time without any case of Covid-19, this island was recorded for having 10 new patients. This event pushed the plan of welcoming international tourists to the island back to at least 1 month and the new opening time will be in November 2021 and the testing time of this plan would be 6 months with the result will be one of the premises to decide when Vietnam can welcome foreign tourists in 2022.

Let's read: the best time to visit Phu Quoc.

What challenges Phu Quoc has to face when open for international flights?

Although Phu Quoc has many favorable conditions to welcome tourists and lead the post-Covid travel trend, it does not mean that the island does not face any difficulties. In fact, it may have to face at least 2 challenges below:

Ensuring safety

To succeed in quickly attracting international visitors, Phu Quoc must ensure safety throughout the journey of tourists. This island will have to race with other destinations to prove that the risk of virus infection here remains low and the disease has been well controlled.

In addition, the island has to guarantee that there will be international medical facilities and hospitals with safe procedures, qualified treatment, and supportive care for foreign tourists in case of Covid-19 infection. And in fact, tourism is a unique activity, mainly based on a sense of safety which includes the ability to get appropriate medical care when required.

Human resources and infrastructure

Before implementing plans to open up Phu Quoc tourism, the island needs to prepare many things. One of the foreseeable difficulties is the shortage of human resources in the context of a more volatile and risky working environment than before.

Besides, in order to access the international tourism market, Phu Quoc has to make more efforts to improve infrastructure and upgrade existing services to strengthen its competitive position. The island must improve its tourism brand to quickly catch up with competing destinations like Phuket or Bali, which are also trying to attract international visitors after the pandemic.

Tourists’ psychological barrier

The epidemic has not been completely extinguished globally yet, causing anxiety among tourists. Besides, the application of vaccine passports is still limited in terms of movement. Only allowing access to a certain location will also limit the ability to attract tourists.

You might interest Top 15+ best things to do in Phu Quoc.

Hotels & resorts system in Phu Quoc

Will you be quarantined when arrived in Phu Quoc?

You can consider that it would be a semi-quarantine travel experience when coming to Phu Quoc at least in 2021. As you were vaccinated 2 doses and have a Covid-19 vaccination passport, you won’t be locked in a small room. However, you can’t travel every corner of the island like before the pandemic. There will be designated areas on the island for only foreign tourists and you will be able to move freely there. Don’t worry it might be boring, as planned, these areas are included some popular tourists attractions and entertainment complexes.  

Hotels where you can choose to quarantined when arrive Phu Quoc

What to prepare for the immigration procedure to enter Phu Quoc Island?

Compare to before the epidemic, it seems like you will have to prepare more documents for immigration procedures when coming to Phu Quoc in this sensitive period and most of them are medical-related, such as:

• A certificate of vaccination against COVID-19 is recognized by a competent authority in Vietnam. The time for the second injection is at least 14 days and not more than 12 months before the arrival date.
• A certificate of recovery from COVID-19 is recognized by a competent authority in Vietnam (if you were a COVID-19 patient). The time from hospital discharge to entry date must not exceed 12 months.
• A certificate proves that you were tested for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR/RT-LAMP method within 72 hours before departure and certified by the competent authority of the country performing the test (in English) with the negative results.
• Bookings or contracts to prove that you registered to participate in the package tour program of the travel agency.

Although there will be many challenges, it is very possible for Phu Quoc to open its doors to tourists and leads the post-Covid travel trend. And for visitors, who have been waiting for such a long time for enjoying the happiness of traveling, although it will be a little more complicated to prepare for a trip, it's still worth it after 2 years of staying at home. 

Book your wonderful vacation to Phu Quoc with us, you deserve it!

MinKJ

Image source: Internet