VIETNAM Partially Reopens to Vaccinated Travelers

For the first time in ten years, the 9th Turkey-Greece Tourism Forum and the 4th Joint Tourism Committee were held in Izmir with the participation of the Tourism Ministers of the 2 countries.

The Greek Minister of Tourism stressed that "we live in sensitive times and times, sometimes difficult, but we must all agree that tourism, travel is the context in which we can and will be able to work even better and we should cooperate". Mr. Kikilias expressed the desire to reduce bureaucracy - with respect to health protocols - to facilitate travel from Turkey to Greece and vice versa. "Visitors from Turkey are welcome, quality tourists and we want to boost the tourist flow from Turkey," he said.

The Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, stressed that cooperation in the field of tourism is important, as it contributes positively to relations. Mr. Ersoy referred to the importance of the temporary visa that facilitates Turkish citizens for their visits to the Greek islands and expressed the desire to extend it to the land borders. He also referred to the desire to increase shipping and air connections between the two countries.

Vietnam has begun welcoming fully vaccinated foreign travellers from select countries in 5 provinces, with other destinations expected to be able to reopen by the end of the year. Travellers are required to stay at designated resorts, book tour packages with designated agencies, and have travel and medical insurance.

The province of Khanh Hoa, on the southcentral coast; the southern resort island of Phu Quoc and Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the central coast, are the first to receive international visitors. The provinces of Kien Giang in the southern Mekong Delta and Quang Ninh in the northeast have also received government approval to restart international tourism. A total of 15 five-star properties in Phu Quoc have been allocated to receive international guests. 7 will be selected for the 1st phase of the vaccine passport programme running from November 20 to March 20, 2022, with the remaining 8 being added for the 2nd phase.

Phu Quoc's designated resorts include Movenpick Resort Waverly Phu Quoc and Movenpick Villa and Residences Phu Quoc. In Hoi An, famous for its Ancient Town, 3 five-star resorts to receive foreign guests, including Hoiana Integrated Resort.

This month Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is expected to reopen. This is positive news, but regular international flights to the country may resume from the 3rd quarter of 2022.

Hoi An town

TOURISM BACK IN FLORIDA

Around 32.5 million tourists arrived in Florida, USA between July and September 2021, slightly higher than the registered number in the same period of 2019.

Domestic tourism has been a positive sector seeing increases of 7% compared to the same period in 2019, helping to boost arrival numbers.

Florida, USA

GERMANY ‘FUEL TOURISM’ SEES TREND IN AUSTRIA AND CZECH REPUBLIC

Austria and the Czech Republic which borders with Germany have much lower fuel taxes. This has led to a unique kind of niche tourism being called ‘Fuel Tourism’, which sees people living closer to the borders of Austria and Czech Republic, take the trip across the border to fill up their car as it is far cheaper.