Laos has just approved the " Laos Travel Green Zone'' program to welcome foreign tourists in January 2022. That contributes to the process of reopening the country after a long lockdown due to the impact of Covid-19. Finally, we will be able to travel to Laos in the next month!
1. “Lao Travel Green Zone” program was officially approved.
The Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control of Laos has approved the ” Laos Travel Green Zone” plan. Thereby, Laos will start welcoming international tourists from January 1, 2022. The purpose of the program is to both ensure safe tourism during the Covid-19 period and contribute to economic recovery. The program will generate income for people, service providers as well as increase revenue for the country.
Currently, the Laos Travel Green Zone is applied to the capital Vientiane, the town of Vangvieng and the ancient capital of Luangprabang. These are places that are eligible to ensure safety for tourists as well as service providers. To become a “Tourism Green Zone”, localities must have 70-80% of the population and 90-95% of service providers have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
Laos reopens its doors to tourists from 17 countries on January 1. These countries include Australia, Cambodia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, Thailand, the U.K. Laos emplements its international tourism reopening plan in the three-phase.
During the first phase from January to March 30, tourists will be able to enter Laos by air and land across the First Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge in Vientiane.
The second phase will be from April 1 to 30 June, and the third phase from July 1.
Vietnam has approved the resumption of commercial flights to nine destinations on Jan. 1 including Vientiane.
2. Requirements of the “ Laos Travel Green Zone”
According to the “ Laos Travel Green Zone”, tourists entering Laos will have to meet required conditions as follows:
- Book a package tour.
- Declare information and travel schedules through the online system.
- Have to buy Covid insurance.
- Have a certificate of full dose vaccination
- Negative test for SARS-CoV-2 virus within 72 hours before entry.
In addition, they will take COVID-19 test on arrival and isolate themselves for 24 hours at a hotel designated by the Covid Committee to wait for test results; use Laosafe app to track information and QR code during travel.
Children aged from 5-18 years old must take teste for Covid by PCR method, but not necessarily have a certificate of vaccination.. Children under 5 years old are not required to be tested for Covid-19.
3. Current situation of COVID-19 and Vaccination in Laos
According to the Lao Ministry of Health, 64.5% of adults in the country have been vaccinated against COVID-19. This is one of the significant steps for Laos to reopen the country in the near future.
As the record, more than 3.6 million people in Laos have been vaccinated with 1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for more than 50% of the adult population. More than 3 million people have received 2 doses, equivalent to nearly 42%. population. The capital Vientiane has the highest number of people vaccinated in the country with the rate of 90%.
According to WHO, from 3 January 2020 to 15 December 2021, there have been 91,816 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 250 deaths in Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
We are continuing to update approved hotels and transportations of the programmes.
To help you have a memorable trip to Laos, Lux Travel DMC give you some recommendations and guideline to travel to Laos here
