Beaches most Googled travel term among Vietnamese post-social distancing

An aerial view of a beach in Quy Nhon Town, in the central province of Binh Dinh. Photo by VnExpress/Trung Pham.

Keywords relating to beach tourism were the most searched by Vietnamese Googlers looking for travel destinations over the past six weeks (67%), followed by nature tourism (56%), according to the search engine report released last week.

The beach town of Vung Tau in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, which neighbors Saigon, topped the list of 10 most searched beach destinations on Google over the last six weeks.

The southern province reopened its public beaches on May 7 after more than a month of temporary shutdown to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Vietnam’s largest island Phu Quoc in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang came in second while Nha Trang, a popular beach town in the central province of Khanh Hoa, placed third.

 

Phu Quoc Island in southern Vietnam. Photo by Shutterstock/Jimmy Tran

Popular beaches in Quy Nhon Town in the central province of Binh Dinh and UNESCO heritage site Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh also appeared on the list.

All beaches in the country had closed down for more than a month as the nation battled the coronavirus pandemic with strict travel restrictions and a social distancing campaign. For now, all local tourist destinations have reopened, but the country remains closed to foreigners' entry except special cases.

A representative from Google Asia-Pacific said Vietnam is making efforts to recover its tourism industry as the epidemic has somewhat been contained across the country.

All Vietnamese carriers have announced plans to further increase the frequency of domestic routes starting next month.

A year-end trend report by Google last December showed beach getaways Nha Trang, Vung Tau and Quy Nhon were among the most sought after destinations by Vietnamese Googlers in 2019.