Recently, the General Department of Tourism, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, has requested localities to urgently review and count the number of foreign tourists who are stranded and need to leave Vietnam before April 14.
Accordingly, hotels are responsible for counting and reporting the number of foreigners staying, updating information on those who stay for objective reasons such as: being quarantined, having to stay due to airlines stopping flights or border closures and needing to leave Vietnam.
In addition, the General Department of Tourism also requested accommodation establishments to create favorable conditions to support foreign tourists who are stranded by exempting or reducing room and meal fees until the Ministry of Transport can arrange flights to bring them home.
The last group of French tourists from Ho Chi Minh City left Vietnam on March 29. The Immigration Department - Ministry of Public Security has also facilitated visa procedures and temporary residence extensions for foreign citizens staying in Vietnam due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic and unable to leave the country. Specifically, international tourists will have their temporary residence period extended by 30 days. Foreign tourists entering the country under visa exemption or tourist visas whose temporary residence has expired but do not have a sponsoring organization and are unable to leave the country can apply for a temporary residence extension through the Embassy or Consulate General.
However, the Immigration Department also noted that cases of temporary stay of less than 10 days due to objective reasons of force majeure, if there are documents and papers to prove it, can be considered for exemption from administrative fines. Previously, preliminary statistics of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism as of the end of March 2020, in 33 large hotels in the city, there were about 407 guests staying, of which nearly 350 were foreign guests, mainly from Japan, Russia, Germany...
To prevent the Covid-19 epidemic, hotels must check and grasp personal information of guests such as name, year of birth, nationality, gender, passport number, contact point, schedule and vehicle registration number to Ho Chi Minh City...
During the stay, the hotel must monitor the health of guests and take measures to ensure the health safety of guests and workers, remind guests to limit leaving the hotel, make mandatory health declarations, regularly check body temperature and wear masks, keep a distance of 2 meters when in contact, do not organize buffets, serve food to guests right in the room...
Recently, in response to the repatriation wishes of German and European Union (EU) citizens in Vietnam, and with the approval of the Government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, Vietnam Airlines operated two special flights from Vietnam to Germany on April 6 and 8. Accordingly, the flights were sponsored by the German Government and implemented by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in coordination with Vietnam Airlines. In particular, the flight on April 8 also carried medical equipment donated by the Vietnamese Government to the governments and people of five countries: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK to prevent and fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
