Covid vaccination tours to the US caused controversy relating to pandemic risk and customers' interests.
Photo: VTC
Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and travel businesses agreed to suspend the Covid vaccination tour to the US at a meeting on May 24.
Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said that businesses have only introduced US tours combined with vaccination to study the market and customer needs. At the meeting, the department and businesses agreed to suspend advertising the tours on social networks and media until the end of this year.
Businesses will wait until the beginning of 2022 to analyze pandemic developments and prepare carefully to well implement the contract between them and the customers. The contract includes provisions such as return flight time, health insurance for the risks that may occur when receiving vaccines, difficulties customers may face when they have to reschedule their flights.
An advertisement of Covid vaccination tours to US. (Photo: Viet My Travel)
Talking to Zing after the meeting, Phan Tra, Director of Tugo Tourism and Trading Service Company, said that he decided to delay the program until the end of the year, waiting for the pandemic to be controlled.
He admitted that the biggest difficulty was organizing a flight from the US to Vietnam. "If the airline delays the flight, what should customers do while they have to stay in the US? The cost will be greatly increased. This is difficult for both the customer and the company. Not to mention, customers returning to Vietnam still have to undergo 21 quarantine days", he analyzed.
In the future, the company will continue to wait for the pandemic to be controlled in Vietnam and focus on the domestic market.
Previously, three businesses in Ho Chi Minh City introduced Covid vaccination tours to the US, namely Tugo, Hong Ngoc Ha Travel, and Viet My. Each tour costs about VND 160-250 million (USD 6,900 10,800)/visitor. Representative of Hong Ngoc Ha Travel said that by the morning of May 24, there were more than 20 customers paid for the tours.
However, the tours caused controversy regarding the risks related to customers' interests.
Valerie Mai
