Racing to reopen borders: Tourism reboot in ASEAN as peak season approaches

(VOVWORLD) - Countries in Southeast Asia are racing to reopen their borders as the tourist season descends. 

First off the block was Thailand, which opened the whole country from Monday. Indonesia is the second country open to tourism.

Since the beginning of October, when the epidemic was under control with the number of COVID-19 cases decreasing by 90% compared to the peak of the epidemic in July, Indonesia decided to shorten the quarantine period for people entering Indonesia from 8 to 5 days.

On October 14, Indonesian authorities opened the popular tourist islands of Bali and Riau to fully vaccinated international travelers from an initial list of 19 countries without the need to quarantine.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that Indonesia will gradually reopen parts of the country where COVID-19 vaccination rates are above 70%.

Meanwhile, Cambodia launched a "safe travel package" for fully vaccinated tourists in Preah Sihanouk city, Koh Rong city in Preah Sihanouk province from last Tuesday and Darasakor resort in Koh Kong province from the end of this month.

Then Siem Reap province will be reopened for tourists from next January. In addition to Thailand, Indonesia, and Cambodia, Malaysia also announced that it will pilot the reopening of Langkawi Island for fully vaccinated tourists from mid-November.

Vietnam is also expected to welcome international tourists to Phu Quoc from the end of this month.

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