Many foreign travel agencies plan to start bringing tourists back to Vietnam from early next year and are awaiting the reopening of the country's international tourism market to prepare detailed plans.

Foreign travel agencies expected to resume inbound services early 2021. Photo: Chu Xuan Khoa

Images Travel Company has not seen massive travel cancellations from Europe. Its partners prefer to call off step by step depending on the actions of the Vietnamese government to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, said the company's director, Nguyen Ngoc Toan.

Last Thursday, TUI, Images’ partner in Europe, notified that all tours at the beginning of 2021 would be called off and if the situation of the pandemic turns worse, February’s travel plan would be canceled too.

Normally, at this time, the company's services would be booked until June next year, but so far it has not received any booking orders as its partners are not sure of the pandemic situation.

Some tour operators in Ho Chi Minh City also reported a similar situation, as partners are postponing trips from month to month to wait for the reopening of borders.

Some French customers of TransTravel still hold orders for November, in the hope that the borders will be open by then. Next month, the travel agency will study a community tour from Hanoi - Vinh - Dong Hoi to be launched in 2021. So far, the product has been booked by two groups of travelers for 2021.

In the cruise segment, Phan Xuan Anh, president of Viet Excursions, said his customers have gradually canceled tour programs from now until the end of this year. However, they have still maintained the schedule of early 2021 if Vietnam allows inbound tourism to restart.

A source from the National Tourism Administration of Vietnam said it is also considering receiving international tourists again, pending the result of how commercial flights that bring foreign experts and businesses to Vietnam are handled.

“If the results are well, we hope that by the end of the year we can welcome international visitors back,” he told Saigon Times.