Passengers arrive at Chu Lai Airport in Quảng Nam Province. The central province plans to host international tourists with vaccine passports as part of a pilot project. Photo courtesy of Jetstar Pacific 

QUẢNG NAM — The central province of Quảng Nam has put forward plans to host international tourists with vaccine passports and negative coronavirus tests.

As part of the plans, arrivals at Chu Lai Airport will stay at the assigned Hoiana resorts in Duy Xuyen District and Tui Blue Hotel in Nui Thanh District for five or 10 days.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, Le Trí Thanh confirmed the plans to Viet Nam News, stating that the province and managing boards of the two resorts and Chu Lai Airport authorities held a working session on preparations to soon host tourists with the proposed vaccine passports.

Thanh said the province will register with the Government to become the first province in Viet Nam to pilot the hosting of international visitors and roll out a ‘safe tourism’ programme.

“We plan to receive South Korean ‘vaccine passport’ tourists on chartered flights as part of the pilot project, and they (tourists) must test negative for coronavirus by Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR),” Thanh said.

“Chu Lai Airport will be given better medical testing equipment and coronavirus prevention measure for arrivals as well as the reception sites at the two hotels,” he said.

The chairman said the two hotels are far from community and residential quarters, and the two sites had been tested and surveyed by the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also agreed with the pilot plan.

Thanh said all staff of the two hotels and task force members will be vaccinated and implement coronavirus preventive measures before hosting tourists.

Beach-front Hoiana integrated resort and hotel comlex and Tui Blue in central Quảng Nam Province are assigned to host the first  international visitors with vaccine passports. Photo by Thanh Ha 

Quảng Nam Province’s tourism industry saw poor growth in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and storms and floods.

The province, which is home to the UNESCO-recognised world heritage sites Hoi An ancient town and Cham Islands-Hoi An world biosphere site, saw tourism revenue decline by 82.7 per cent in 2020, hosting only 1.46 million tourists – an 81 per cent reduction from 2019.

The tourism association of Quảng Nam has inked an agreement to boost post-COVID-19 tourism in the region in 2021 with Đa Nẵng and Thừa Thien-Huế. — VNS