Discuss solutions to attract international visitors

The Government has just issued Resolution 82/NQ-CP on key tasks and solutions to accelerate recovery and accelerate effective and sustainable tourism development. In particular, visa policies, promotional activities, tourism products and linkages in tourism development between destinations... are bottlenecks that need to be removed immediately to create a breakthrough in attracting international visitors.

Soon "open the door" on visas

According to the resolution, the Government requested the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to continue implementing the project "Restructuring the tourism industry to meet the requirements of developing into a spearhead economic sector". In particular, special attention should be paid to restructuring the tourist market; diversifying and effectively exploiting the large international tourist source market; researching and grasping new tourism trends to have timely policies...

Bàn giải pháp thu hút khách quốc tế - Ảnh 1.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is required to preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries and branches to complete the dossier to submit to the Government for consideration and issuance of a Resolution on expanding the scope of unilateral visa exemption; promote negotiations on visa exemption agreements with countries, especially partners with a similar or higher level of development than Vietnam. The Ministry of Public Security continues to complete policies, facilitating entry, exit, and travel for international tourists; report to the Government on expanding the list of countries granted electronic visas (e-visas).

The ongoing 5th session of the National Assembly is expected to consider and pass the Law on Amendments and Supplements to a Number of Articles of the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens and the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam. If passed, this regulation will contribute to further facilitating foreigners entering Vietnam by ensuring consistency in regulations on issuing e-visas and traditional visas; extending the temporary residence period for foreigners entering Vietnam from 15 days to 45 days; extending the duration of e-visas from 30 days to a maximum of 90 days, valid for single or multiple entries...

Regarding the solutions in the Government's resolution on tourism development, many business leaders said that visa bottlenecks need to be resolved "the sooner the better". Because if tourism is prioritized, the first solution is to prioritize visas to "open the door" to welcome visitors.

Mr. Vo Anh Tai, Deputy General Director of Saigon Tourist Group, commented that the law amendment will complete the legal basis, ensure uniformity and create convenience for citizens to enter and exit the country; contributing to making tourism a spearhead economic sector.

Promote the new visa policy systematically

Mr. Nguyen Chau A, General Director of Oxalis Company, commented that the Government is submitting to the National Assembly a Law amending a number of articles related to entry visas and the National Assembly will decide during this session. If approved and effective immediately, the tourism industry will have about 3 months to promote the change in visa policy to the European and American tourist markets... Thereby attracting this type of tourist to Vietnam during the tourist season starting from next October.

"Investing in promoting the country's destinations with new visa policies requires a systematic, long-term strategy along with an appropriate budget to meet requirements and bring high efficiency. Enterprises also need to renew themselves by building more tourism products, restructuring business models, and promoting the B2C model to directly approach tourists," Mr. A suggested.

Mr. Pham Ha, Chairman of the Board of Directors of LUX Group, proposed not only extending the visa-exempt stay period from 15 days to 45 days, but also increasing the e-visa to 90 days or even 6 months to 1 year (multiple entries) for middle-class and above customers who want to retire and live long-term in Vietnam.

"The most important thing is that changes to visa policy need to be approved soon," said Mr. Pham Ha.

Many other businesses also suggested that priority should be given to tourism so that the industry can develop to its full potential, and the first priority is visas. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Toan, General Director of Image Travel & Event Company, analyzed that markets with developed tourism industries all prioritize and are open in visa policies. "Open" visas will stimulate tourism products to follow based on the real needs of customers.

"Businesses cannot predict and prepare for tourists' tastes - especially in large markets such as Europe, the US, Australia... customers have very diverse needs and do not follow trends like in the country. Each trip has different requirements, businesses only prepare personnel with good language and culture to receive product requests according to customers' wishes" - Mr. Toan emphasized.

Improve airport infrastructure to welcome passengers

According to the General Statistics Office, in the first four months of 2023, the tourism industry welcomed more than 3.68 million visitors - 19.2 times higher than the same period last year but only 61.7% compared to the same period in 2019.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam welcomed 18 million international visitors. Although the tourism industry officially opened in March 2022, it only set a target of welcoming 8 million visitors for the whole year of 2023.

"The lack of airports and routes may also be the reason for high airfares compared to other countries in the region, affecting competitiveness and the lack of international visitors. The lack of tourists from distant markets is a common problem in the world due to airfares, not just in our country. There are still countries that have overcome difficulties thanks to tourism priority policies and Vietnam needs this priority to make a breakthrough in tourism recovery," said Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Toan.