Vietnam applies digital travel pass to welcome int’l tourists

Vietnam’s tourism authority has created a vaccine digital certification system at the website https://travelpass.tourism.vn in preparation for reopening inbound activities amid the Covid-19 period.

The website is one of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT)’s efforts in building recovery plans for the travel industry this year.  

The feature of the vaccine digital certification website.

The VNAT, in recent times, has cooperated with relevant units to study the application of technology to welcome international tourists while ensuring pandemic prevention and control.

With the application of digital solutions, the tourism industry is considering piloting vaccine passports that allow foreigners, those from Russia first, to the resort island of Phu Quoc in the southern province of Kien Giang where has contained the Covid-19 pandemic.

The VNAT has also launched the “Vietnam safe travel” app, as part of the measures against Covid-19, to help visitors check the safety level of destinations. The safe travel app is expected to become a useful tool for tourists when Covid-19 is under control in Vietnam.

“All the accommodation facilities have to publish QR code for tourists before booking,” the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism noted. The codes are generated in each business' account after they declare their status in the national Covid-19 safety system.

The VNAT will continue to upgrade the assessment system, ensuring that with one-single update of tourism activities in localities, data will be timely recorded in the safety system.

The Vietnamese air carriers including State-owned firm Vietnam Airlines and private company Vietjet Air joined the trial of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Travel Pass last month, a digital travel mobile app that helps travelers store and manage their verified certifications for Covid-19 tests or vaccines. 

Le Hong Ha, General Director of Vietnam Airlines said an electronic health passport solution such as the IATA Travel Pass should be widely authorized and recognized by governments, helping to quickly restore regular international air transport.

The airlines are waiting for the Ministry of Transport’s mechanism to accelerate the reopening of regular international flights to Vietnam.