by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:00 AM ET, Tue February 22, 2022
Government officials in Vietnam announced last week the country would reopen its borders to vaccinated international travelers in March.
According to Reuters.com, foreign visitors will be allowed to enter the country, starting on March 15, as long as they follow the updated coronavirus-related protocols, including a one-day quarantine and negative tests before departure and upon arrival.
Despite the recent surge of coronavirus cases, Vietnam is reporting fewer hospitalizations and deaths than previous variants. As a result, the country is looking to reopen three months earlier than planned to accelerate economic recovery and revive the battered tourism sector.
"The approval is in accordance with the government's new responses to the pandemic, which are adapting safely and flexibly and controlling the virus effectively," Vietnamese officials said in a statement.
Vietnam's tourism website has all the additional information needed before arrival.
The country is following similar reopening steps taken by other Southeast Asian nations. On February 1, Thailand reopened its Test & Go program for vaccinated travelers to bypass mandatory quarantines, expecting the program to welcome between 200,000 to 300,000 travelers in the first month alone.
The Philippines also reopened to vaccinated international travelers earlier this month after officials planned to reopen the archipelagic nation to international tourism in December, but the rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases attributed to the Omicron variant delayed the restart.
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