Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has proposedthe Government resumes pre-pandemic waivers of visas for tourists from 24countries when the country restarts international tourism.

Theministry earlier proposed March 31, 2022, to be the beginning of the totalreopening of international tourism in Vietnam, as the country expects to finishits COVID-19 vaccine booster shot campaign by then.

Thelist of 24 countries on the visa exemption list comprises Brunei, Myanmar(for 14-day stay or less), the Philippines (21-day stay), Thailand, Malaysia,Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Kyrgyzstan (no more than 30-day stay),Belarus, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Finland,Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain (less than 15-day stay), andChile.

Arrivalsfrom 46 countries could enter Vietnam on e-visas, as before the COVID-19pandemic broke out and the country closed its border.

Theministry wants the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairsto be on board with this policy.

TheMinistry of Health is expected to provide medical guidelines for arrivals, andtechnical guidance to monitor and deal with COVID-19 outbreaks in the newnormal, which are consistent with existing regulations in many othercountries “to ensure international integration efforts,” the tourism ministrynoted.

Negotiationswith other countries to push recognition of Vietnam’s COVID-19 vaccinationcertificates should also be expedited, to facilitate outbound tourism.

TheMinistry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism requested the Government direct theMinistry of Information and Communications to assume prime responsibilityin selecting a uniform mobile COVID-19 app that foreign arrivals need to useduring their stay in Vietnam.

ThePeople’s Committees of provinces/cities need to proactively prepare conditionsto open tourism, uniformly operate, closely supervise the welcoming of gueststo ensure safety, while having plans to handle medical issues arising fromtourism.

Duringthe 2022 Tiger Lunar New Year, 467 visitors arrived in Vietnam under thepilot “COVID-19 vaccine passport” programme.

Sincethe launch of the programme late last year, a total of 8,967 internationaltourists have arrived in three localities – Phu Quoc Island (Kien Giang province),Khanh Hoa, and Quang Nam.

Mostof them came from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea,Singapore, the UK, the US and Canada.

Asmany as 16 travel firms, 82 lodging facilities, 28 tourist sites, eightshopping centres and 48 transportation companies in the five targetedlocalities have registered and been eligible to join the first phase of theprogramme.

27cases of COVID-19 infections have been detected among them – 17 in Phu Quoc and10 in Khanh Hoa./.