These 5 countries are offering vaccines to tourists
With countries eager to reopen their borders for tourism, some are taking cautious steps, while others are resorting to vaccination drives. And since the supply of vaccines could not keep up with the demand of vaccines in some countries, they are yet to relax travel restrictions fully. Meanwhile, countries with excess supply of vaccines, see this as an opportunity to lure tourists, and have started to offer options where travellers can be vaccinated.
Here, take a look at some of the countries that are offering vaccines to tourists.
Maldives
The Maldives is also offering vaccines to tourists in a bid to revive its tourism sector. It’s promoting Vaccine Vacations, which is a plan to offer COVID jabs, and reportedly, this plan will be put into place once all the residents are vaccinated.
Referring to this, Maldives Tourism Minister Abdulla Mausoom said Visit, Vaccinate, Vacation, will provide tourists a convenient option to get their jabs, and that the scheme will only go live once the native population has been vaccinated. He added that the primary idea of tourism being open is to provide reasonably safe tourism with minimum inconvenience. And once the island nation gets vaccinated, they will move on to ‘3V’ tourism, he added.
United States of America
Some states and cities in the United States are offering options to visitors to get vaccinated. While in April, Alaska announced that it would be offering free vaccines to any visitor upon arrival in a bid to start summer tourism. Further, New York announced that it will drop its residency requirements, and will make vaccines available for tourists too. For this purpose, pop-up vaccination sites will be set up in tourist spots like the High Line, Central Park, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, without making much noise, launched vaccine tourism, whereby free jabs will be offered to everyone with an entry visa. Reportedly, all one has to do is register either for the US-German Pfizer/BioNTech jab or the Chinese-made vaccine Sinopharm in Abu Dhabi’s healthcare app. Tourists can also book appointments via their passport information on the app. One will have to show proof of an entry stamp or a visa at the time of inoculation.
Bali
Keen to boost tourism in the region, the resort island of Bali in Indonesia is offering COVID-19 vaccination to travellers. The initiative was announced by Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Economy Sandiago Uno that stated vaccines would be available to both domestic and international tourists. As per the reports, this plan will include free access to AstraZeneca and Sinovac for domestic travellers, while foreign tourists can get paid access to Sinopharm and other jabs.
Russia
The Russian authorities will be offering COVID-19 vaccines to tourists, but it will come at a cost. As per the plans, tourists will be offered vaccine schemes that will last three weeks with prices ranging from USD 1500 and USD 2500, excluding flight costs. Some travellers will, however, face difficulties in travelling to Russia as the Russian consulates are not yet issuing visas.
Referring to this, President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI) Andrei Ignatyev said, “The product is ready, but the issues of visa support and legal entry for foreigners wishing to receive the Russian vaccine are yet to be resolved.”
