Plan failure, cost incurred..., those are things that no tourist wants in their trip. However, in such force majeure cases, tourists always put their own safety first. And, even, for many people, it is a rare experience in life.
Escaping the hotspot
“A trip that we will probably never forget in our lives. The past few days have been an emotional, worrying, and stressful journey, but in the end it ended peacefully. The most important thing I can say today is that our group returned home safely,” Ms. Phi Thi Bich Ngoc - Director of N Plus Adventure Travel Company, recalled.
According to Ms. Ngoc, the initial trip was to survey destinations to open a new tour in Iraq. When the war broke out, the group had almost completed their schedule and only had one day left in Baghdad before flying back to Vietnam.
She shared: "At the time of the war, February 28, we were in the Erbil region - a hotspot of Iraq because there was a US military base located here. While the delegation was sightseeing, after a message that the flight was canceled due to airspace closure, I heard an explosion in the distance followed by the sound of airplanes. Feeling unwell, I did not visit with the delegation but spent time observing the situation and then called the relevant functional agencies and acquaintances for advice.
Realizing that the area the delegation was visiting was at risk of being unsafe, Ms. Ngoc decided to leave Iraq as soon as possible and transfer her flight plan back to Vietnam from Turkey.
After consulting, she took the delegation to Duhok city - a safe area and closest to the Turkish border. Early in the morning of March 1st, the whole delegation completed entry and exit procedures by road to Turkey with the support of local people.
The group stayed overnight in a small village near Midyat airport to wait for a flight. By the morning of March 2, the whole group had flown back to Istanbul safely.
After nearly a week staying in Istanbul waiting to fly back to Vietnam, the members had time to relax as well as visit this city. On March 8, the delegation moved onto a transit plane in Thailand to return to Vietnam.
“For many years working in tourism, I have encountered emergency cases but no situation is the same. The most important thing is to maintain alertness to handle them. At that time, I was only worried about whether the border would be blocked or suddenly closed or not,” Ms. Ngoc said.
A memorable week
As a tourist who accidentally got stuck in Oman for nearly 1 week, Mr. Trinh Van Duc (26 years old, Hanoi) had truly different experiences. Previously, he planned to go to Spain for work and booked a transit ticket at Doha Airport (Qatar) on February 28. However, due to the emergency situation, the flight was forced to land in the capital Muscat.
Carrying excitement for a business trip to Spain but having to stop at a country he had never thought of during the journey, the early days in Oman made Mr. Duc quite confused when continuously following news about the war.
At 10:00 PM on March 6th, his flight from Oman to Thailand continued to be delayed to 2:00 AM the next morning. At 11:00 AM landing at Bangkok airport, he continued to wait for a connecting flight to Vietnam at night.
The male tourist shared: "Although this was a trip that was not in my initial plans, in general, I had quite relaxing days in the capital Muscat. The streets are clean, the weather is not too harsh, the people are friendly, the prices are cheap, and Oman is a neutral and safe country. If it weren't for such a forced situation, perhaps I would never have known such a good Middle Eastern country.
The hotel is temporarily located near the beach, so almost every day Mr. Duc goes to the sea to admire the natural scenery here. Besides, he also spends time visiting the Oman National Museum, Al Alam Palace, and a viewpoint to see the panoramic view of Muscat city.
The story of Germany is not an isolated case when many flights over the Middle East region were canceled or diverted during the escalating tensions. Recently, some international airlines have begun to restore flights over this region.
Although the Middle East is an attractive destination thanks to its ancient cities, deserts and unique culture, tourists still need to closely monitor security developments in the region before planning a trip. The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism has requested travel businesses to temporarily suspend and not organize tourism programs to dangerous war zones as officially recommended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
