According to experts, the vaccine passport is an opportunity to recover and make a breakthrough for Phu Quoc in particular and the national tourism industry in general.
In 2008, Greece faced a terrible national debt crisis, causing the country's GDP to shrink by 26% until 2014. But even in its darkest times In 2011, the Greek economy shrank only 6.9%. Last year, despite efforts to fight the epidemic, the economy grew by negative 8.2%. They lost more than $13 billion in tourism revenue.
After the 2018 World Cup final, a million articles around the world mentioned Croatia's name, and the keyword "visit Croatia" hit a record high on Google that summer. The prospect of an economy with up to 25% of GDP coming from the tourism industry was extinguished because of Covid-19. In the second half of 2020, Croatia witnessed negative growth of 14.9%.
Dubrovnik old town (Croatia) is empty of tourists. Photo: Shutterstock
However, from the beginning of 2021, a solution began to be mentioned and became the greatest hope of many economies in Europe, which is the vaccine passport.
Welcoming the 2021 tourist season, Greece quickly implemented a series of open-door policies for those who have been vaccinated with 2 doses of Covid vaccine. The Greek government has also made a series of bilateral agreements with more than 30 countries, to receive citizens with vaccine certification or antibodies from these countries. In August, Greece recorded 93% of commercial flights compared to the same period in 2019, a peak year before the pandemic.
Croatia's tourism is also revived, when the number of commercial flights in August has reached nearly 80% compared to two years ago. In Dubrovnik, Croatia's top tourist destination, some restaurants didn't even have time to hire service - they were surprised by the rapid recovery after a dismal 2020. The number of overnight reservations in July 2021 reached 69% compared to 2019.
Basically, the EU's Covid-19 response policy set in general and tourist regions in Southern Europe in particular includes: accelerate vaccination for the majority of the adult population; Open to visitors who have a vaccine passport, have been infected but recovered, or have a negative PCR test result.
Up to now, most European countries are recording the number of infections much lower than the peak at the end of 2020, moving towards a "new normal" to promote trade and tourism again.
The above practical experience of Europe is an important lesson for Vietnam and Phu Quoc tourism, when the pearl island has been set a date to deploy the vaccine passport, open to international tourism.
Over the past time, the economy of a city with tourism strength like Phu Quoc has been strongly affected when the number of visitors decreased by over 95%. Therefore, the pilot policy of choosing Phu Quoc to open to international tourists through the vaccine passport is like a great opportunity specially given to Phu Quoc.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Dinh Thien - Member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Group, Phu Quoc can completely break through and become Asia's new Phuket or Maldives. Therefore, the successful deployment of the vaccine passport in Phu Quoc will be a great opportunity for this destination to break through in the world tourism market.
In the context of very few infections and a high rate of vaccine coverage, many investors believe that Phu Quoc could be a bright star in Southeast Asia in the tourist season at the end of next year.
Visitors at Sun World Hon Thom Nature Park 2019. Photo: Sun Group
That is also the reason that the government has high expectations for the pilot policy of opening the door to welcome visitors, and the expected number is more than 2 million visitors. international travel from now until the end of the year. According to the results of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism's 2019 Major Tourist Survey, on average, each international visitor to Vietnam who spends the night at an accommodation will spend more than $900 for the whole vacation.
"That means just over 1 million visitors generated $1 billion in revenue. Even in the most conservative scenarios, when guests reduce spending during the pandemic (but only in Phu Quoc instead of moving) ), if it surpasses the milestone of 2 million visitors, a billion USD revenue is expected," a representative of Sun Group shared.
More generally, the vaccine passport is bringing to Phu Quoc trend-leading changes. In addition to promoting "no-touch" and "one-touch" services to welcome guests in Phu Quoc, large corporations like Sun Group also create Wellness experience packages, stylish resort real estate projects, and more. How Wellness fits the needs of healthcare tourism after the epidemic.
Premier Residences Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort. Photo: Sun Group
Since the last few years, Phu Quoc has always been a destination chosen for the Government to implement policies for the first time, as one of three "candidates" who have the opportunity to become a special economic zone, to the city. Vietnam's first island and sea and is now the first destination to pilot welcome guests with vaccine passports. "This will create opportunities for Phu Quoc to develop strongly compared to other localities, commensurate with the potential and unique advantages of this land. This is an opportunity that Phu Quoc needs to know to seize soon." Mr. Tran Dinh Thien emphasized.
