Nice By Vietnam

  Ngo Mon Gate, the main entrance to the Imperial Citadel in Hue, is lit up at night, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Dang Tuyen Thua Thien-Hue Province, home to Hue town, has got the green light from the government to allow in foreign tourists under an ongoing trial program. Provincial authorities had sought government approval several times in recent days. Nguyen Van Phuc, deputy director of the province Department of Tourism, said charter flights would arrive from South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia from now through March 15. Tourists would be allowed to stay at sequestered resorts such as Laguna Lang Co, Vedana Lagoon Resort & Spa Hue, Kawara My An Onsen Resort and Spa, and Alba Thanh Tan Hot Springs Resort. They can visit golf courses and tourist attractions such as the Imperial Citadel and Bach Ma National Park. Hue, the seat of the Nguyen Dynasty, is also home to royal tombs, ancient palaces and pagodas that attract millions of foreign visitors every year. Earlier Kh...

  A boat with color lanterns and pinwheels in Hoi An's Hoai River, Quang Nam Province. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong Local officials have instructed all ships and boats on the Hoai River to remove lanterns and pinwheels, saying these colorful decorations affect Hoi An Town's image. On Saturday, many ships and boats on the river had to take down their lanterns and colorful decorative pinwheels at the request of the Hoi An People's Committee. Each boat is only allowed to keep two lanterns hanging on the front and rear of the boat, and these should not be higher than a sitting passenger. Vo Phung, Standing Vice Chairman of Quang Nam Tourism Association, said removal of the lanterns and pinwheels was necessary because too many colors affect the landscape of the old town, known for its yellow walls and old red tiled roofs. Boats with lanterns of various colors, shapes and types, combined with green and red pinwheels, have been on the Hoai River since 2018. Phung, director of Ho...

  Vietnam will fully reopen inbound tourism from March 15 after nearly two years. Most restrictions will be lifted, but there are some requirements to keep in mind.

  Foreign tourists with a hotel guide (R) in Hoi An, March 18, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Tan Hotels and travel firms across Vietnam are scrambling to recruit staff and increase personnel training after the government agreed to fully reopen international tourism from March 15. Since early February, Hotel Job, a leading recruitment website in Vietnam's tourism industry, has posted 150 hiring announcements from hotels, resorts, restaurants, amusement parks across the country. It has also received 1,000 candidate profiles for management and housekeeping positions. Le Quoc Viet, director of the Santa Company, which runs Hotel Job, said that recruitment demand has doubled against the same period before the pandemic and page traffic was continuing to rise. He also noted that during the  Tet  or Lunar New Year break, most tourist destinations were packed with tourists, a clear sign that the sector was recovering. Given the context of recovery alongside the government announci...

  Two elephants live at Yok Don National Park in Vietnam's Central Highlands after spending years serving tourists. Photo courtesy of Yok Don National Park Elephant residents of the Yon Don National Park in Dak Lak Province will no longer be exploited for tourism purposes. They can roam free in their natural habitat. In 2018, the park's management signed an agreement with Hong Kong-based animal welfare organization Animals Asia to halt elephant rides, following which it became the first locality in Vietnam to decide not to use elephants for tourism purposes. Yon Don, which spans around 115,500 hectares from Dak Lak to Dak Nong in the Central Highlands, used to attract tourists for elephant rides, a practice decried as animal abuse by activists and international organizations. In 2014, the park launched a service where visitors could experience being a mahout, gradually replacing elephant rides. In 2018, the park officially stopped the rides and other services, releasing all the...

  Foreign tourists in front of the Central Post Office in downtown HCMC, February 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Tam Linh The Ho Chi Minh City tourism department on Friday announced a list of 13 hotels and six tourist attractions eligible to serve foreign tourists starting this month. These include Rex Hotel, Sheraton Saigon Hotel, InterCotinental Saigon Hotel, Liberty Central Saigon Citypoint, Liberty Central Saigon Center Riverside, Liberty Central Saigon Center, Vien Dong Hotel and Silverland Sakyo, all in District 1. Other hotels are Windsor Plaza Hotel and Equatorial Hotel in District 5, Novotel Saigon Center and Ramana Saigon in District 3, and Eastin Grand Saigon in Phu Nhuan District. Six attractions allowed to welcome back foreign tourists are the Central Post Office, Ho Chi Minh Museum, Ao dai Museum, Cu Chi Tunnels, Sac Forest Tourism Area and Saigon Skydeck Observatory in Bitexco Financial Tower. The list will be effective until Vietnam fully reopens its tourism on March 15, ...

  JP Klovstad, a Norwegian tour guide, show kids photos on his camera during his trip to the Mekong Delta, 2018. Photo courtesy of JP Klovstad Tour guides who specialize in serving inbound tourists have seen some light at the end of the tunnel with the government announcing full tourism reopening next month. Several challenges still await, but the feeling of relief is palpable. JP Klovstad, a Norwegian who works as a tour guide for Albatros Travel, a Danish company specializing in bringing Norwegian tourists to Vietnam and Southeast Asia, told  VnExpress International  he was very happy to hear that the borders would reopen soon. "Many in Norway and the rest of the world are ready to travel. It will be great for hotels, restaurants in Vietnam to get tourists back," said the 60-year-old resident of HCMC's Thu Duc City. The government has agreed to  reopen inbound and outbound tourism from March 15  under new normal conditions, with foreign tourists allowed to tra...

  Ha Ton Quyen Street in HCMC's District 11 has many wonton (sui cao) shops. Photo by VnExpress/Ha An HCMC authorities are considering making Ha Ton Quyen Street in District 11, famous for selling Chinese wontons, pedestrians-only during weekends. Tran Thi Bich Tram, vice chairwoman of District 11, where the street is situated, said the city government's approval is awaited. The 300-meter-long street will be off-limits to vehicles from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays starting in the third quarter of this year. It will have around 70 stalls selling food, fashion items and souvenirs, a parking lot and mobile toilets. The conversion will be funded by private sources. Ha Ton Quyen Street is part of Chinatown, which straddles districts 5, 6, 10, and 11, and for generations has been well known as a place where Chinese families selling wonton soup. HCMC already has three no-vehicle areas, the center strip on Nguyen Hue street and Bui Vien Street in District 1, and ...

  Tourists take cyclo rides around Hoi An under a vaccine passport program, November 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Duy Hau The tourism ministry has eased restrictions for tourists arriving in Vietnam under an ongoing vaccine passport trial program before full tourism reopening in mid-March. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued new guidelines Thursday in welcoming back foreign arrivals, effective from now until March 15, which allowed foreign tourists and overseas Vietnamese to arrive in Vietnam on regular commercial flights, instead of only charter flights. After three days of joining a tour package that they have to register beforehand, if the tourists show a negative PCR test result, they are free to visit other localities that have also been approved to welcome back foreign tourists under the vaccine passport program. Currently, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh, and Binh Dinh provinces, along with Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang City are the only localities for...

  Aircraft park at Noi Bai Airport, Hanoi, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy Regular flights have resumed to 19 international destinations a month after the Vietnamese government reopened the country's borders. Vietnamese carriers are flying to Bangkok, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, London, Moscow, Paris, Phnom Penh, San Francisco, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo, and Vientiane, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said in a report. China only allows outbound flights as it still pursues a zero-Covid policy with stringent entry restrictions. Vietnam allowed a gradual resumption of aviation services on January 1 after over two years of suspension. Some 153,000 people have so far flown into or out of the country. On Tuesday the country ended all restrictions on international flights.

  American tourists pose for a photo on Nguyen Hue pedestrian street in HCMC, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Tam Linh The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Thursday has called for reviving the visa exemption policy for tourists from 24 countries that was in force before the pandemic. It follows the government's decision to reopen borders to tourists on March 15 as it seeks to revive the beleaguered travel industry after nearly two years of closures. Before the pandemic nationals of Belarus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the U.K. were allowed to visit Vietnam for up to 15 days without a visa. Visitors from most other ASEAN countries do not require a visa for up to 30 days. The waiver is for 21 days for visitors from the Philippines and 14 days for those from Brunei and Myanmar. Kyrgyz nationals do not need a visa for travel up to 30 days while for Chileans it is 90 days. The ministry also wants the resumption of e-vi...

  Foreign tourists in Hoi An, March 14, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/ Do Anh Vu Fully vaccinated foreign tourists should be treated no different from domestic tourists when Vietnam reopens international tourism fully, removing all restrictions, an expert says. Pham Truong Hoang, who teaches hospitality and tourism at the Hanoi-based National Economics University, said many countries around the world have fully reopened their borders to foreign tourists and if Vietnam is slow in reopening compared to its regional peers, it could lose its status and tourism competitiveness. "The reopening for international tourists should be on the same lines as domestic tourism," Hoang said. Vietnam lifted all restrictions on domestic tourism and this resulted in a tourism boom during the recent  Tet  (Lunar New Year) holiday. An estimated six million domestic tourists were welcomed in different destinations around the country during the holiday, three times last year's figure. "The full ...

  Aircraft at Tan Son Nhat Airport, HCMC. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Anh Vietnam Airlines will resume its HCMC-Kuala Lumpur route from Thursday while Vietjet Air is scheduled to double the frequency on its HCMC-Bangkok route from next month. The national flag carrier announced Wednesday the first regular flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia after two years would take off Thursday. There will be one weekly flight on the route each Wednesday starting March 1 when Malaysia would fully reopen its borders to foreign tourists without the need for mandatory quarantine. Vietjet Air will double its current frequency on the route between HCMC and Bangkok to six daily departures after the government lifted all restrictions on the frequency of international flights. Bamboo Airways has begun selling tickets for the HCMC-Bangkok route with its first flight scheduled to take off on March 17. On Feb. 1, Thailand began a quarantine-free travel program it calls Test & Go al...

  Ben Thanh Market in downtown HCMC is seen from above. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have approved a renovation plan for Ben Thanh Market, a tourist attraction. The renovation project would include the upgrade of infrastructure and four main gates, all downgraded after many years of use. Its metal roofing will also be tiled. Funding for the renovation project will come from private sources. Covering an area of 13,000 square meters, Ben Thanh Market in District 1 has long been a tourist magnet in the southern metropolis that attracted thousands of foreign visitors each year before the pandemic. Built in 1870 by the French, the market was initially called Les Halles Centrales before being renamed Ben Thanh in 1912. Today the market operates all year round and opens from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

  Foreign tourists visit Hoi An in central Vietnam under a vaccine passport program, November 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Duy Hau The government on Wednesday agreed to reopen inbound and outbound tourism from March 15 under new normal conditions. A directive by Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to announce a detailed reopening plan to be applied nationwide. The ministry was also asked to work with the Ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs to make a proposal on visa issuance policy. Vietnam closed inbound tourism and halted granting visas for foreigners in early March 2020. On Tuesday, the defense, public security, tourism, health, foreign affairs and transport ministries agreed at a government meeting that as Vietnam fully reopens its air, land and sea borders from March 15, all travel restrictions imposed since the pandemic broke out in Vietnam in 2020 would be removed. The ministries proposed the government resumes the unilateral visa exemptio...

  The Chinese-Vietnamese community in Saigon brightened the city Tuesday with a colorful parade and dragon dances to mark the First Full Moon Festival. The parade began at 5 p.m. on Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street, famous for Chinese traditional medicine shops, and went through Chau Van Liem, Lao Tu, Luong Nhu Hoc, and Nguyen Trai streets. For the ethnic Chinese Hoa people in Vietnam, Nguyen Tieu, or First Full Moon Festival marks the final day of the Lunar New Year celebrations. Observed on the 15th of the first lunar month, it has become a traditional celebration for the ethnic Chinese community. Dragon dances are an indispensable part of the Nguyen Tieu festival celebrations. Stilt walkers dressed as characters from Chinese mythology are a popular attraction. Women transform into fairies and perform traditional dances. Dressed in traditional costume, Tran Lam Nghi carries baskets of flowers. "This is the fourth time I am participating in the festival parade. This year with the pandem...

  A staff disinfects the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy The Temple of Literature, Ngoc Son Temple, Thang Long Imperial Citadel, and Hoa Lo Prison, some of Hanoi's tourism mainstays, reopened to visitors on Tuesday. The city Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism allowed historical sites and relics to reopen on Monday with Covid-19 safety measures in place. Visitors are required to be fully vaccinated or produce a negative PCR test result done within 72 hours. The sites need to measure people's temperatures and provide hand sanitizers. Hanoi had closed all historical sites and relics on May 3 last year as the fourth coronavirus wave hit the country. It plans to fully resume tourism activities in the third quarter of this year. The city has been topping the nation's infection tally for over a month now with nearly 3,000 daily. It has recorded over 172,000 infections since April.

  A group of foreign tourists drink beer on Bui Vien pedestrian street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran Several ministries have voiced support for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's proposal to fully reopen international tourism and lift all travel restrictions from March 15. The defense, public security, tourism, health, foreign affairs and transport ministries agreed at a government meeting Tuesday that as Vietnam fully reopens its air, land and sea borders from March 15, all travel restrictions imposed since the pandemic broke out in Vietnam in 2020 would be removed. Foreign tourists arriving in Vietnam do not need book tour packages with designated travel agencies as per the ongoing vaccine passport trial program launched in November last year. All tourists aged from 12 and above are required to furnish a certificate stating they have been fully vaccinated or recovered from Covid and show a negative rapid antigen test result obtained ...

  Aircraft park at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, October 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy In preparation for fully reopening inbound and outbound tourism by late March, Vietnam's aviation industry officially resumed regular flights to all markets from Tuesday without restrictions on frequency. The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) started ending restrictions on the frequency of international flights to and from all markets, marking the first time after more than two years Vietnam has fully restarted international flights. However, CAAV said the resumption of regular flights still needs the approval of markets that had direct flights to Vietnam before the pandemic since each country has different pandemic prevention requirements. After receiving a response from these markets, Vietnamese aviation officials will grant flight permits for domestic and foreign airlines to bring passengers in and out of Vietnam based on airline demand. On Jan. 1, the government a...