With Covid-19 under control, Vietnam and New Zealand see different travel trends

Local tourists posing for photos on the The Huc bridge at Hoan Kiem lake in Hanoi, Vietnam. The country’s domestic tourism is recovering fast. — Reuters

Laura Douglas’ tourism start-up, a farm surrounded by snow-tipped mountains in southern New Zealand, was attracting hundreds of mostly foreign visitors a month until the coronavirus pandemic brought it to a sudden halt in March.

“It’s like I’ve been mourning the loss of my business, ” Douglas, 33, said in an interview, adding she had to take on a second job as a vet to pay the bills during a strict lockdown that included sealing the country’s borders.