Procedures for Reopening for “Vaccinated” Tourism
Procedures for Reopening for "Vaccinated" Tourism - Cambodia
The Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia has informed relevant ministries-institutions, capital and provincial administrations, and all tourism operators that, with the high permission granted by Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Cambodia will reopen to welcome vaccinated tourists, which can be done in three stages.
Table of Contents
- 1. Stage 1 (restart)
- 2. Stage 2 (reopening by regions)
- 3. Stage 3 (full reopening)
- 4. Visa for vaccinated tourists
- 5. Designation and management of safe tourism destinations
- 6. Requirements under the vaccinated tourism program
- 7. Readiness of the tourism industry in the context of new normal
- 8. Reciprocity for One, Reciprocity for All
1. Stage 1 (restart)
The program to welcome international tourists will be piloted at the end of November 2021, starting with Preah Sihanouk City, Koh Kong City of Preah Sihanouk Province, and Dara Sakor region in Koh Kong Province, to be followed by Siem Reap Angkor in January 2022.
2. Stage 2 (reopening by regions)
Following the sucess of the pilot program in Stage 1, international tourists will be welcomed to visit other safe areas in the country.
3. Stage 3 (full reopening)
The country will be fully reopened for all vaccinated tourists.
4. Visa for vaccinated tourists
The visa arrangement for vaccinated tourists will be determined according to types of visitors and stage-by-stage as shown in the table below:
| Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | |
| Safe and Green Zones/ Destinations | • Issuance of visa types A, B, C, E, K to vaccinated tourists and travelers. • Open operation of Covid-19 vaccinated tourism package (visa type T) in piloting zones. Visitors are required to remain quarantined for 5 days within the designated zones, not hotels. | • Issuance of visa types A, B, C, E, K to vaccinated tourists and travelers who have been adequately vaccinated. • Open operation of Covid-19 vaccinated tourism package (visa type T) in Safe and Green Zones/ Destinations. Visitors are required to remain quarantined for 3 days within the designated zones, not hotels. • Issuance of visa type T to vaccinated family visitors or high-end visitors who come in small groups. They, too, will be subjected to a 3-day quarantine but within the designated zones, not hotels. | • Vaccinated tourists and travelers are not required to be quarantined. • Vaccinated tour groups can travel throughout the country. No quarantine required. • Vaccinated individual tourists or family tourists are not required to be quarantined. |
Note:
– For A, B, C, E, K visa holders, the actual number of days for quarantine within the Safe and Green Zones/ Destinations and within other areas will be applied according to decision to be made separately by the National Sub-Committee for Combating Covid-19.
– The number of days for quarantine may be determined separately based on the actual development of the Covid-19 situation.
5. Designation and management of safe tourism destinations
The methods for selecting Safe and Green Zones/ Destinations for reopening to vaccinated tourists are described in the table below:
| Selection methods | ||
| Assumed indicators (benchmark) | Vaccination rate | At least 80%* |
| Rate of Covid-19 cases (medium and serious conditions) and rate of Covid-19 related deaths | – For new cases hospitalized with medium and severe conditions, they should be ≤19 cases** out of 100,000 people during the last two weeks; – For fatality rate, it should be ≤10%*** among the hospitalized cases with medium and severe conditions; | |
| Capacity to respond to, treat, and manage risks arising from new variant of the virus | – Capacity to monitor, trace, contain, and dispose off the spread of the virus quickly; – Availability of hospital, referral hospital, health center, treatment center, laboratory, material and equipment, and adequate number of health professionals and staffs; | |
| Readiness of tourism industry | – 75%**** of operational tourism businesses with safe tourism label, and – 100%***** of the staff in the industry are fully vaccinated. | |
| Calculation formula: Number of people having received the first dose **Rate of new cases hospitalized with medium and severe conditions among 100,000 people during the last two weeks = Number of new cases hospitalized with medium and severe conditions during the last two weeks ***Death rate among hospitalized Covid-19 patients with medium and severe conditions during the last two weeks = Number of new cases hospitalized with medium and severe conditions during the last two weeks Number of businesses holding safe tourism label Number of fully vaccinated staff in tourism industry – The assumed indicators could be modified according to the development of the Covid-19 situation. | ||
6. Requirements under the vaccinated tourism program
6.1. Prior to travel to Safe and Green Zones/ Destinations
To meet the requirements of the reopening program, foreign visitors should attach the following documents when applying for Cambodian visa entry:
• An authentic/ legitimate certificate confirming injection of adequate doses of vaccine against Covid-19,
• Address of booked itinerary and paid-for accommodation in Safe and Green Destinations,
• Health travel insurance coverage to Cambodia, including insurance in an event of Covid-19 treatment, and insurance to reimburse in an event of cancelation of the already booked tourism services in Cambodia,
• Flight tickets,
• An authentic/ legitimate “no Covid-19 infection” certificate issued 72 hours prior to the scheduled departure, and
• Travel history in the past 14 days prior departing to Cambodia.
6.2. Upon arriving at international airports or at Safe and Green Zones/ Destinations
• Tourists arriving under this program will be required to undergo rapid Covid-19 antigen test at the entrance.
– If the result of Covid-19 rapid test is positive, the individual will be separated while awaiting confirmation by the PCR test to avoid false Covid-19 rapid test result. Once confirmed positive by the PCR test, that particular individual will be transferred for treatment according to the prescribed procedures. All other tourists and travelers who shared the same flight with that particular individual(s), will also need to be separated and subject to have PCR tests at their own expenses through their subscribed insurance underwritings.
– If the test results are negative, all tourists and travelers can proceed to their booked accommodations. However, they are subject to have one (1) PCR test at the location of their stay on the 4th day following arrival under Stage 1 of this program, and on the 2nd day following arrival under Stage 2 of the program.
• Tourists arriving under this program shall install “Tracerapp” on their smart phones and other devices upon arrival. The purpose of the app is to help prevent and contain the spread of Covid-19 by recording locations visited by the guests, in case of they have been exposed to Covid-19.
7. Readiness of the tourism industry in the context of new normal
• Owners of tourism businesses shall assign their employees to take part in reskilling and upskilling training, especially in digital skills;
• Tourism workers shall enter all data in the Covid-19 vaccinated package tour;
• All tourism operators shall require their employees to get full doses of Covid-19 vaccine and shall enter data of vaccinated employees in the Telegram BOT; and
• All tourism businesses are encouraged to apply for “Safe Tourism Measures” label.
8. Reciprocity for One, Reciprocity for All
Prime Minister Hun Sen recently announced that Cambodia will support a policy of reciprocity with Thailand and allow quarantine-free access to travellers from Thailand in recognition of the Thai government’s announcement that they will allow quarantine-free entry to Cambodian visitors. This is a fair and reasonable move towards a wider reopening and the logical next step would be reciprocity for all countries and not just Thailand.
Thailand is not the only country allowing Cambodians to enter without quarantine. In a positive statement of intent, Cambodia could offer quarantine-free access to all nationals of countries that allow quarantine-free access to Cambodian nationals and residents. This would be a proactive step on the road to recovery and reconnecting with the wider world.
May the public and international tourists take note of the above information issued by the Minister of Ministry of Tourism of Kingdom of Cambodia.
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