In recent days, many people who hail from Vietnamese localities facing a resurgence of COVID-19 infections have rushed to return their flight, railway and coach tickets as they skipped their hometown-returning plans for the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February, amid growing disease concerns.

As reported, on Thursday morning, lots of migrant workers and university students poured to the Da Nang Inter-provincial Coach Station to return their purchased tickets to the Northern Viet Nam and the Central Highlands due to the fear of being quarantined for up to 14 days upon return to Da Nang after Tet.

Ms Tran Thi Linh, a women hailing from the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, said her family decided to stay in Da Nang instead of going home for the Lunar New Year holiday, which is an occasion for family reunions and is just over a week away.

“Due to working away from home, my family wishes to return to our hometown to celebrate Tet with our grandparents and other relatives. However, the pandemic remained complicated, so we are afraid that we cannot go back to Da Nang after Tet, affecting our jobs and our children’s studying” said Linh.

She remarked “At this point, safety and pandemic prevention are the top priorities, and health is the most important thing. After the pandemic is put under control, we will visit our hometown”.

A representative from the Da Nang Inter-provincial Coach Station said recent days have seen large numbers of people asking to return paid coach tickets although they have to pay the refund charge accounting for over 10% of the fare displayed on each ticket. Most of passengers returning their tickets hailed from northern and central localities, including Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Vinh and Gia Lai.

Currently, inter-provincial passenger coaches on the Da Nang-Thanh Hoa route still operate normally.

“We are looking out for our customers’ well-being to give them peace of mind while they travel with us. Face coverings, and hand disinfection with sanitizer gel, will be mandatory for all passengers during the journey” a representative from a road transport operator said.

Likewise, at the Da Nang Railway Station, people queued up to return tickets in early Thursday morning.

Mr Tran Van Vinh from Vinh City said he bought 6 tickets for a round trip between Da Nang and Vinh City. However, the pandemic with the new variant virus is increasingly become dangerous, so he has decided to stay in Da Nang to celebrate Tet.

“This was my first Tet away from home, but I will reserve my purchased tickets and choose another opportunity to visit my grandparents” Vinh said as he waited to change his booked train tickets at the Da Nang Railway Station on Thursday.

Mrs Le Thi Tuyen from the city’s Railway Station said, regarding the demand for ticket returns, the state-owned Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR) issued a guidance to passengers.

Accordingly, passengers can choose to save purchased tickets for later use within one year from the original departure date. Passengers can also opt to change the departure date for free of charge, and only pay the fare difference, if any.

Those who do not use the train tickets in 2021 will receive a full refund from January 1, 2022.

As for passengers wishing to return tickets, a refund will be made 90 days of the return date.

Mrs Tuyen said that, an average of between 300 and 500 purchased train tickets are returned every day. He unit has ensured full deployment of personnel to create maximum conditions for passengers in need.

Meanwhile, Director of Da Nang International Airport Administration Le Xuan Tung said there was a decrease by 10 domestic flights every day because passengers cancelled their flights to pandemic-hit localities.

“In light of the complicated developments of the pandemic, we are seeking the permission from the Ministry of Health to conduct COVID-19 testing for all airport staff because the airport is facing a high risk of infection among its employees amid new community transmissions of the coronavirus, even though stringent preventive measures are in place” Director Tung said.

By THANH LAN, VAN HOANG - Translated by M.D