Vietnam welcomed nearly 3.8 million international visitors in the first seven months of 2020, a drop of 61.6% over the same period last year as the country keeps its borders closed to foreigners to contain Covid-19.

Halong Bay, Quang Ninh province is one of the most favorite destinations for foreign visitors. Photo: Vietnam Travel Facebook page

Some 13,900 foreigners have arrived in Vietnam in July, increasing 58.7% from June but plummeted 98.9% year-on-year, according to the latest report from the General Statistics Office.

The central government has only authorized some repatriation flights to bring Vietnamese citizens home. Foreigners are allowed to enter in some exceptional cases such as expats, diplomats, business executives and highly-skilled laborers.

Dramatic drops were seen in major markets such as China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan (China), Europe and the US.

In the first seven months of this year, Asian visitors still accounted for the majority of total tourist inflows, with nearly 2.74 million, down 63.9% over the same period last year. 

Visitors from Europe reached 666,600, down 48.7% while arrivals from the Americas fell 61.4% to nearly 234,500, mostly from the US. Around 102,300 arrivals were from Oceania, down 61.3% while visitors from Africa were close to 12,100, down 54%.

Source: General Statistics Office. Chart: Nhat Minh

Arrivals by air dropped 60.5% year-on-year to around 3.04 million, accounting for nearly 81%, while 570,500 came by road, down 70.5%, and those arriving by sea decreased by 8.4%.

On July 29, the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control confirmed eight new Covid-19 cases in the central city of Danang city and Quang Nam province, bringing the country’s caseload to 446, including 369 convalescents.

From July 28, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam under the Ministry of Transport has stopped all air travel activities from and to Danang for 15 days.

Downtown Danang has been put under lockdown, including three hospitals from July 28.

The People’s Committees of Phu Yen and Quang Nam have decided to temporarily shut down tourist destinations from July 29 in a bid to curb the Covid-19 spread.