Vietnam and some other countries are expected to be the first one to open up to foreign tourists, according to WeSwap, the UK's largest P2P travel money provider.

Ha Giang province. Photos: digitalsennin, hoachld, emotivephotography, fiztssi (Facebook).

WeSwap predicts when some countries began to loosen the social distancing order, it is likely that the tourism industry will be among the first to revive. 

Vietnam has had one of the lowest cases and death rates in the world, despite being just next door to China. The country has had just over 320 cases and zero deaths. It has gone 40 days without community infection and so is beginning to reopen its doors.

As Vietnam has emerged as the leader in pulling its tourism industry out of the Covid-19 slump, the domestic market is considered the key driver to boost travel activities through a number of promotional programs and supporting measures for domestic travel businesses to overcome Covid-19 pain.

Vietnam’s tourism authorities are considering a "travel bubble", or safe corridor, that will allow the entry of quarantine-free people, like the one planned by Australia and New Zealand, following the positive evolution of the Covid-19 prevention and control in some markets such as South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan (China) and within ASEAN.

In addition to Vietnam, WeSwap also included Fiji, Sri Lanka and Seychelles in the list of economies that could reopen their travel industry before others.

Gianh River, Quang Binh province. Photo: dimorua (Facebook).

Matt Crate, managing director of WeSwap, said that there are countries that need to reopen the tourism sector to restart their economies.

"There are countries across the world that have dealt incredibly well with the infection rate of the disease and should be commended. Suspending travel has been an important part of these safety measures but there are countries that will need to look at reopening these sectors to restart their national economies," added Crate.