"Opening" airlines, creating momentum for aviation and tourism to recover

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Strong rebound in 2022

In the latest report sent to the Ministry of Transport, the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said that after only the first three days of restoring international passenger flights to Vietnam (from January 1, 2021), there were 17 flights with 1,753 passengers entering Vietnam through four international airports: Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai, Da Nang and Can Tho.

Vo Huy Cuong, former Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, said that the reopening of international routes is an important step, affirming Vietnam's determination to restore all flights in terms of socio-economic life as well as recognizing the positive results of the pandemic prevention work.

“We have implemented a historic vaccination campaign with the rate of people getting one dose of the vaccine reaching 98%, and the rate of getting two injections in some localities reaching 88%. There are no statistics on the spread of diseases by air, most of which originate from land. This is a factor to consider and evaluate for the reopening of international routes,” said Mr. Cuong.

Talking to Customs News, Mr. Bui Doan Ne, General Secretary of the Aviation Business Association (VABA) said that the positive signals of the aviation industry in 2022 are shown by the national routes being restored from the first days of the new year. The reopening of eight international routes in early 2022 is a positive signal to help the aviation industry recover. If the opening is too slow, the competitiveness of domestic airlines with foreign airlines will be weak, and the recovery of the aviation market will be slow.

In order to reopen international routes, the Aviation Business Association recommends not restricting the travel purposes of international visitors coming to Vietnam, only requiring guests to have valid visas and passports, meet the requirements on pandemic prevention and control according to the regulations of the State of Vietnam.

At the same time, relaxation of isolation regulations for passengers on entry is in line with the current policy of "safely adapting, flexibly, effectively controlling the Covid-19 pandemic", moving forward to consider when lifting the isolation regulations to notify airlines that organize regular international flights with passengers. Removing regulations on isolation for crews of Vietnamese airlines that just have just completed flights from abroad.

Loss of advantage

As two industries are directly related, the fact that airlines open more flights is a condition for tourism to open more programs, tours, and products. Therefore, from the early days of 2022, when the airlines reopened international routes, it has led to the number of visitors booking package tours, travel services and sightseeing trips to many destinations across the country in the past year.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Man, Director of Communications - Marketing TST Tourist, said that from November, TST Tourist has organized six groups of visitors to explore outdoor attractions in Long An. In addition, since having a direct flight (early December) between Ho Chi Minh City - Dien Bien, TST Tourist has served two groups of tourists to explore Dien Bien, and is expected to hold two more flights in the near future.

According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Man, TST Tourist is completely confident in preparing personnel, products as well as operations to be ready for the development of domestic tourism and international visitors when there are conditions to develop outbound tourism products.

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has also agreed to add Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Dinh to the list of localities participating in the pilot program to welcome international tourists to Vietnam.

Previously, there were five provinces/cities of phase 1 that were piloted to welcome international visitors: Da Nang, Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, and Quang Ninh. Along with a series of flexible policies in anti-pandemic work and economic development, it is forecast that from the beginning of this year, tourists with vaccine passports will continue to increase. This has created recovery momentum for Vietnam's tourism industry from the first days of 2022.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietravel Holdings, said that his company has carefully prepared to welcome guests back. It is forecast that from January to March 2022, international visitors, mainly overseas Vietnamese, will return home after two years of being interrupted by the pandemic. Therefore, Vietravel has reopened four offices in the US, France, Australia, Thailand, soon Singapore, for overseas Vietnamese to come and register.

Commenting on the growth opportunities of the tourism industry in 2022, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky said that opening up the economy, including opening up traffic and transportation, especially aviation and tourism, is necessary.

The opening of international air routes is considered slowly, so it is necessary to further accelerate it to contribute to the recovery of the economy. Forecasts of international aviation organizations show that up to 70%-80% of travelers answered that they will travel by air, so the tourism industry could recover soon.

However, in order to welcome international tourists back, many businesses have suggested that they need specific, clear policies and guidelines. At the same time, some quarantine measures for tourists should be relaxed, and regulations and isolation times should be reduced with the condition that the pandemic situation is controlled.