Open to international visitors

The Government Office has just announced the conclusion of the Government Standing Committee at a meeting regarding Vietnam's unilateral visa exemption for citizens of other countries and a number of policies in the field of management of entry, exit, transit, and residence of foreigners in Vietnam.

Extend visa duration to 90 days

According to this conclusion, the Government Standing Committee requested the Ministry of Public Security to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies to urgently implement procedures and complete dossiers to propose a number of policies in the field of management of entry, exit, transit and residence of foreigners in Vietnam according to legal regulations.

Previously, the Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Government Standing Committee regarding this issue. Based on the meeting's opinions, the Government Standing Committee requested the Ministry of Public Security to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies to urgently implement the procedures. The ministries reported to the Government to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and inclusion in the National Assembly's joint resolution at the 5th session (May) on 3 contents: increasing the visa duration from no more than 30 days to no more than 90 days, valid for single or multiple entries; granting electronic visas to citizens of all countries and territories; increasing the duration of granting temporary residence certificates at border gates for people entering under unilateral visa exemption from 15 days to 45 days.

The Ministry of Public Security has also just completed the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam. The draft also proposes to amend the regulations on the duration of electronic visas from 30 days to 90 days, valid for one or multiple entries at the request of foreigners. The Ministry of Public Security also proposes to extend the temporary residence period for citizens of countries that Vietnam unilaterally exempts from visas from 15 days to 30 days. The duration of tourist visas remains at 3 months. The goal is to contribute to improving competitiveness and attracting international tourists in the coming time. Along with that, attracting more and more foreigners to enter Vietnam for tourism, seeking investment and business opportunities, creating momentum to promote socio-economic development in general and the tourism industry in particular.

Compete with countries in the region

The news that the Government has agreed to extend the validity of e-visas has attracted the attention of tourism businesses and had a positive impact on the market. Because visas have long been considered a barrier and bottleneck that needs to be quickly removed in the story of competing destinations to attract international visitors.

Up to this point, more than a year after the milestone of fully opening the tourist market, Vietnam still only exempts visas for 15 days for international visitors. According to a representative of Vietnam Airlines, this not only limits the time for tourists, but also makes it difficult for travel companies to design tours, while countries in the region such as Thailand and Singapore all allow visa exemptions of up to 30-45 days, even 60-90 days for citizens of some countries.

Vietnam has only exempted visas for 24 countries unilaterally and bilaterally, while Malaysia and Singapore exempt 162 countries, the Philippines exempt 157 countries, Thailand 64 countries... In addition, most of the above countries allow multiple entries, while Vietnam only allows visitors to enter once. Even the e-visa and visa on arrival policies are not convenient as visitors still have to apply for approval in advance, not just arriving and applying for a visa directly at the border gate like some other countries.

Vietnam Airlines representative said that in the immediate future, it is necessary to return to pre-COVID-19 visa policies; study to loosen and expand visa policies, ensuring competition with countries in the region such as Thailand and Singapore. "Vietnam should consider visa exemption for tourists from the US, Australia, India and all EU countries; apply more flexible E-visa and visa on arrival policies for countries that have not yet been exempted from visas. The US, Europe and Australia are markets with high demand for long-term travel, so the visa exemption period should be extended to a minimum of 30 days or 45 days like Thailand, allowing tourists to use multiple-entry visas to enter Vietnam instead of a single entry visa as at present" - Vietnam Airlines representative analyzed.

Open visa policy is needed to attract international tourists to Vietnam. Photo: HOANG TRIEU

Businesses proactively plan to welcome guests

Speaking to a reporter from the Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietravel Corporation, said that in the past, visas have been the biggest obstacle for the tourism industry, despite opening very early. Not only is the stay period only 15 days, but it is also difficult to get a visa. While waiting for the amendment of the Immigration Law, it is recommended that the Government can submit a separate amendment to attract visitors or the Government can exempt visas from 60 to 90 days depending on each key tourist market with the peak tourist attraction period of the year. This is the fastest and most effective way.

"Apply visas at airports and border gates (currently not available) and upgrade the technology of the current online electronic visa system. Propose that the National Assembly and the Government expand the number of visa-exempt countries or that the National Assembly assign the Government the right to unilaterally exempt visas for 90-180 days for key tourism markets to increase competitiveness and attract visitors compared to other competing destinations in the region" - Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky proposed.

Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, Chairman of IPPG Group, also assessed that increasing the visa exemption period for tourists, typically European countries with long travel times, will help travel companies build longer and more comfortable travel programs. Because the travel demand of the elderly in Europe to Vietnam is high.

Previously, speaking at the national conference on tourism in 2023, Mr. Dang Minh Truong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sun Group, proposed to study and propose extending or expanding the subjects and countries that can be exempted from unilateral visas, including key markets. For example, the Australian market spends 4 billion USD/year on tourism. Or Canada spends over 33 billion USD or European countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, they all spend from 21 to 26 billion USD, ranking above Sweden, Norway, Denmark - countries that are currently under the visa exemption policy.

Have a national strategy for tourism promotion

After removing the visa bottleneck, businesses said that there is still much work to be done for Vietnam's destinations to compete with other countries in the region. Regarding promotion, a representative of Vietnam Airlines said that in the long term, Vietnam needs to build a comprehensive national strategy to compete with other tourist destinations in the region (similar to Singapore's SingapoReimagine or Thailand's Visit Thailand Year 2023: Amazing New Chapters).

In the immediate future, in the process of recovering the tourism market, Vietnam needs to have a national plan for tourism recovery and establish a task force consisting of members from ministries, sectors, aviation, tourism and hotel businesses, capable of synthesizing and proposing practical policies, and capable of consulting as well as closely monitoring and promoting implementation.

Th. Phuong

Success thanks to flexible visa policy

In Asia, a welcome influx of tourists is the Chinese, who are eager to travel again after three years of pandemic restrictions but have also faced delays in obtaining visas to travel elsewhere. So countries that can help visitors overcome those troubles have emerged as “winners”, such as Thailand, which offers visas on arrival to all fully vaccinated and insured Chinese tourists and welcomed 180,000 Chinese tourists between January and mid-February 2023.

Extending visa validity, length of stay and special offers are another way to attract tourists. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Enhanced Visa System, which will come into effect in October 2022, allows visitors with tourist visas to enter and stay for up to 60 days. Tourist visas in Thailand are valid for up to 60 days and can be extended by 30 days, while Singapore offers 30 to 90 days of stay to citizens from 164 countries that it exempts from visas...

After a decade of visa liberalization, Africa’s tourist arrivals in 2019, the year before the pandemic, grew 8% year-on-year, according to data from the Visa International Travel (VISIT) platform and VisaNet data. The two previous years also saw increases of 12% and 11%, respectively, in 2017 and 2018.

A. Letter

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