The Russian government has listed Vietnam among current safe tourist destinations without any restrictions along with China, Egypt, India, Tunisia, Turkey, and the UAE.
At the same time, Germany has removed 60 countries and territories from its list of high-risk Covid areas, including Vietnam ‘based on the spread of the Omicron variant.’
Russia recommends Vietnam among safe tourist destinations
The recommendations announced by the Federal Agency for Tourism of Russia on March 2 came as the U.S. and many European countries closed their airspaces to Russian flights and imposed sanctions on Moscow following the war in Ukraine.
Russian authorities have advised their citizens not to travel to countries that have imposed sanctions and restrictions on it since they could be barred from returning home in a timely and safe manner.
The Russian tourism agency believed that some destinations, including several Latin American countries, will no longer be available to Russian tourists due to airspace restrictions.
From March 15, Vietnam will fully reopen inbound tourism, with foreign tourists allowed to visit the country without booking tour packages.
In 2019, the year before the onset of the Covid pandemic, Vietnam received a record 646,000 tourists from Russia, making it the sixth largest tourism source market after mainland China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the U.S.
Germany pulls Vietnam from high Covid risk list
“With the widespread occurrence of the Omicron variant, the probability of this variant to have a severe course is shown to be less compared to the previous prevalent variants, therefore, no areas will be considered as high-risk areas,” the German public health institution Robert Koch Institute stated.
Starting from Thursday, tourists from Vietnam arriving in Germany would be exempt from 10-day home quarantine and skip online medical declaration.
However, all travelers aged 12 or over must present a negative test result or certificates proving they have been fully vaccinated or recovered from Covid.
Germany added Vietnam to its high-risk Covid list of countries and territories in August last year.
As many as 78.9 percent of Vietnam’s 98-million population have received two vaccine doses.
In the latest wave that hit the country in late April, Vietnam has recorded over 3.63 million cases and 40,000 deaths.
Sources: VNExpress
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