A vaccine passport can be understood as a document certifying that a person has received their full two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. This passport helps to ensure safety against diseases during travel. If authenticated on a digital platform, it will facilitate the tracking process when necessary.

A number of countries and organisations around the world have also tested and applied similar digital certification tools with different names, such as the European Union (EU) applying the EU Digital COVID Certificate used to travel within the block; the International Air Transport Association (IATA) developing the Digital Travel Pass; the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Common Project developing a Common Pass; and IBM Corporation applying the Digital Health Pass.

In Vietnam, the Politburo recently agreed to pilot a vaccine passport for international visitors to a number of tourist centres that have the epidemic under control, such as Phu Quoc (Kien Giang). In order to be ready to welcome international visitors when international tourism reopens, VNAT has proactively built a vaccination certification system on its website at https://travelpass.tourism.vn, with support from units under the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Ministry of Health.

This system provides procedures for controlling, verifying and updating medical records of international visitors before they enter Vietnam and during their travels, until exiting Vietnam. The system is built under European standards, meeting the regulations on security, safety and confidentiality, creating favourable conditions for the arrival and departure of international guests.

Currently, the vaccination certification system has been integrated on the app “Du lich Viet Nam an toan”. Users can use the app to declare vaccination certificates while at the same time accessing and taking advantage of the ecosystem of smart utilities on the app, such as finding safe destinations, updating disease information in localities, safe tourism digital maps, health monitoring, travel insurance, e-tickets, service shopping, tour management, and exploring destinations.

The app is continuing to be upgraded in a comprehensive and synchronous manner aiming to serve users most effectively, thus contributing to ensuring safe tourism in the new context.