Travel bubbles are also known as safe travel corridors during the pandemic. A travel bubble is an exclusive agreement between countries that allows tourists to travel freely without having to be quarantined upon entry.
In the context of the global tourism industry being heavily impacted by COVID-19, the concept of a travel bubble appears as a potential solution.
At the beginning of July 2021, Thailand officially applies the form of a travel bubble on Phuket Island. This move allows foreign tourists to come to relax, thus restart tourism activities and services while ensuring the prevention of the disease outbreak again.
Thailand's implementation of the travel bubble program has pushed countries in the region, including Vietnam, to learn and apply, thereby quickly reopening famous tourist attractions.
The travel bubble comes, however, with challenges. The major barrier preventing the travel bubble program in Asian countries from accelerating is the ability to access vaccine supply, and the implementation area must achieve herd immunity.
In addition, there should be strict control from the reception when visitors arrive at the airport, during their stay, and finally when guests board the plane to leave the locality. All must ensure a closed cycle, ensuring strict compliance with 5K regulations.
The travel bubble will allow accommodation facilities, transportation services, tourist attractions, and restaurants to reopen. However, the accommodation establishments participating in the program are also required to ensure the requirements and procedures for pandemic prevention and control and have to ensure that the facilities provide good service to guests and promptly respond to unexpected situations.
Besides, the ability to synchronize transportation activities and the infrastructure of each locality or tourist facility is also a challenge for the travel bubble model.
The travel bubble model is considered a ray of hope for the tourism industry of Vietnam in particular and other countries in general by the end of 2021. This model is expected to be applied flexibly in Vietnam based on the actual situation of the localities for both domestic and international visitors.
Vietnam’s government has just approved the deployment of the vaccine passport in the country. That will create opportunities for the country’s tourism industry to catch up with the world. Resort tourism is expected to be benefiting from this decision post-pandemic.
To recover the tourism industry, Vietnam is focusing on boosting domestic travel. Airlines are reopening domestic flights between tourism cities as a means to promote both the aviation and tourism industry.
According to experts, sea islands and famous tourist cities are expected to be popular destinations for Vietnamese tourists by the end of 2021.
Explaining this trend, the expert said: Before the pandemic, most domestic tourists had the habit of spending a lot of time during the day wandering in bustling traditional markets, mainly to enjoy local food and buy souvenirs.
Post-pandemic, people will have gradually adapted to a new way of life, and the need to travel will also adjust to the new normal period. As long as the pandemic situation has not been controlled completely, tourists will put the safety and health of themselves and their loved ones first. Therefore, “social distancing” tourism will become a trend.
Tourists following this trend will choose destinations with wide-open spaces to keep a safe distance. Thus, large-scale resorts in the famous coastal tourist city will still be popular destinations for Vietnamese tourists.
In addition to offering attractive incentive packages, resorts will focus on improving competition from service quality and distinct advantages, ready to welcome the influx of domestic tourists. Resorts with international brands, synchronously planned, maximum customer experience in just one destination will be the optimal choice of the majority of customers. Resorts like these also easily attract more high-end domestic guests who cannot afford to travel internationally. This group of guests is always willing to pay high costs to receive high-class and different service quality.
Currently, there is still no exact determination on when international tourism will be fully opened again in Vietnam. There has been news that that international tourism will reopen in June 2022. However, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism denied said information, as there has been no official proposal regarding international tourism reopening.
At the moment, the tourism industry is focusing on preparing a pilot plan to welcome international tourists to Phu Quoc. The island will allow vaccine passports, and if the pilot plan proves to be a success, it will be a great boost for Vietnam’s tourism industry. Many hope that the deployment of vaccine passports in Phu Quoc will be a big opportunity for this destination to make a breakthrough in the world tourism market.
Furthermore, the island can become a role model for other tourism spots in Vietnam, and will, overall, assist the recovery of this most important industry of the country. Recently, some cities such as Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Da Nang, etc., expressed their desire to welcome international tourists would the pilot program in Phu Quoc was successful. The route to welcome international tourists in Vietnam will be determined depending on the actual development of the pandemic, to ensure the highest safety for the community.
Source: The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, vneconomy
Compiled by VietnamCredit
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