Vietnam. At last month’s Virtual Travel Retail Expo, as part of the Knowledge Hub initiative, there was a great session on how Vietnam can reopen tourism with a strong vaccine rollout and health concerns. We are happy to detail this key discussion for you.
Anyone viewing the conversation, titled Leading Vietnam out of crisis into a new era of opportunitywill be confident in the speed of travel back, not only to Vietnam, but to the wider world.
With Martin Moodie, Phillip Nguyễn, CEO of IPP Travel Retail and VP of Business Development, Imex Pan Pacific Group Vietnam; Nitin Kapoor, Chairman and General Manager of AstraZeneca Vietnam and Frontier Markets Asia; Partner, Head of Strategy, KPMG Luke Treloar, National Head of People, Healthcare and Life Sciences.
An ebullient Phillip Nguyễn speaks during the conference in support of Vietnam and its safety-first progress in reopening international travel
The session started with three detailed presentations, where Nguyễn presented key facts about the IPP and Vietnam’s airport and tourism ecosystem. This is followed by two informative views on the rollout of vaccinations in the world and in Vietnam, and approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic from Kapoor and Treloar.
Talking about the progress Vietnam has made with vaccination, Nguyễn said: “We only really started vaccinating this year, in terms of vaccinations and I’ve heard that some days we have a million vaccines a day; I’m amazed It’s even doable. But Vietnam does have this steel will to get things done.”
Summary of IPP Travel Retail’s duty-free shop interests in Vietnam (click to enlarge)
He added: “I am very hopeful because what we can and need to do now is that the science behind vaccination works. I think today we can say with confidence that Vietnam will be ready to reopen soon.”
As the conference aired on 12 October, AstraZeneca has so far provided more than 1.5 billion doses of the vaccine to more than 170 countries during the pandemic, free of charge. AstraZeneca has accounted for 61% of the 57 million doses of the vaccine administered in Vietnam so far.
This graphic shows how Vietnam has successfully forced a downward trend in COVID-19 cases (click to enlarge)
The pharma giant’s Kapoor discusses the challenges of Vietnam’s vaccination program and the spread of distribution: “When this vaccine came out, we were working with Oxford University to develop our vaccine, and one of the benefits was the favorable conditions for storage and transportation. [the vaccines] This just requires a normal temperature. This makes moving across the country very easy.
“Vietnam is one of those countries that has good transport facilities, so we don’t think there’s much difference between urban and rural areas. If it’s a refrigerated product, you need to freeze at minus 50, minus 60, minus 70 degrees, we Will be talking about something completely different here.
AstraZeneca’s Nitin Kapoor (top) and KPMG’s Luke Treloar (bottom) speak during the live session as they share insights on the rollout of vaccinations and the pursuit of COVID-19 herd immunity
“Vietnam’s healthcare system, government priorities and drivers [to tackle COVID-19] Absolutely incredible. They’ve done a really good job of making sure the vaccine travels as far as possible.
“I don’t think we see a gap [between major cities and rural areas]. Of course, some places will be slightly slower.But from a scientific point of view, if you’re in a remote province that’s not crowded, and you don’t have a lot of urbanization, you could also argue that there’s also a little less urgency, technically speaking, because [lower] Social distancing is required, etc.
“So I think the strategy is the right one. You surround the border, then you pick up pockets in densely populated areas, and you come out from there. I think it’s worked very well for Vietnam.”
Key elements of the Vietnamese government’s economic reopening strategy (click to enlarge)
In his presentation, Luke Treloar presented some encouraging statistics on global herd immunity, highlighting that the G20 countries, which include many of Vietnam’s major tourist source markets, are only two months away [again at the time of the session on 12 October -Ed] From reaching 75% of the population vaccinated to achieving this goal. Meanwhile, it is estimated that the magic number of herd immunity in the wider world will not be reached in about six months.
Treloar said: “Hopefully once we reach the 75% target for richer countries, all the efforts and pipelines [of vaccine distribution] will snowball in developing countries. We will all be back to safety and travel soon. “
Looking at tourists from the main source markets returning to Vietnam, Nguyễn said, “Russian tourists have been here for a month, and our current 7-day quarantine is not a problem for them!
KPMG charts forecast paths for herd immunity in Vietnam’s major tourist source markets (click to enlarge)
“We may not win the Chinese tourists today, maybe they may show up after the Beijing Winter Olympics. We may not have the Koreans yet because there are still strict rules for entering South Korea.
“But we will take it one step at a time. I do think that in order to attract international tourists, we have to start with domestic tourism again through the domestic airport. There are many beautiful mountains, seaside and countryside – I am sure many people miss nature, Vietnam There is a lot to offer here.”
Nguyễn concluded: “Vietnam, our company and our partners in Vietnam are looking forward to welcoming all audiences here today for a well-deserved holiday. So always keep us in mind and we will be ready to welcome you all when the time is right to be safe. Return to Vietnam.”
