More Vietnamese expect tourism to take off again post-pandemic: survey

Forty percent of surveyed Vietnamese said restriction-free travel within Asia would resume in the next six months while 38 percent of respondents anticipate all international destinations to reopen to tourists by year-end, according to the survey released by Agoda, the world's leading online accommodation reservations provider.

The survey was carried out by Singapore-based market research company YouGov Singapore Pte. Ltd among a sample of 1,103 Vietnamese adults last month.

While Covid has delayed travel plans for most Vietnamese, 63 percent of respondents expect travel providers to adhere to strict Covid protocols during future trips.

A total 57 percent hoped all travelers would have had at least one vaccine dose before they make future trips while over a third wanted travel agencies to provide flexible options for cancelation and booking changes, the survey stated.

In terms of inbound tourism, only 27 percent of respondents believed Vietnam would reopen to foreign tourists within the next six months.

Another 48 percent don't expect inbound travel to resume for at least 12 months or until 80 percent of Vietnamese are vaccinated while the rest said they didn't know when inbound tourism would recover.

Vietnam closed its borders and canceled all international flights in March last year, and has since allowed only certain categories of visitors with strict Covid-19 quarantine requirements.

As Vietnam struggles with its most challenging outbreak triggered by the highly transmissible Delta variant, first identified in India, several countries have blocked entry to arrivals from Vietnam.

Most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam have been placed under lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.