The more visas open, the faster tourism recovers
In the parliament, most of the National Assembly deputies expressed their agreement with the proposal of the Ministry of Public Security on the urgent need to change the visa policy, extend the time limit for granting temporary residence certificates and electronic visas for international visitors.
International tourists arrive at Cam Ranh airport (Khanh Hoa)
In the dispatch just sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB) affirmed that this is the decisive factor for the competitiveness of tourism. Vietnam. According to TAB, Vietnam is the first country in Southeast Asia to reopen to international tourism, but the recovery of international tourism has been much slower than that of regional competitors such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. In particular, the big reason comes from inadequacies in visa policy.
The World Tourism Organization estimates that a liberal visa policy could increase the number of international tourists by 5-25% per year. Vietnam also witnessed this when for the first time visa-free entry for 5 Western European countries. Many countries in the ASEAN region have used visa facilitation policies to attract international visitors such as Thailand exempting tourist visas for citizens of 64 countries and territories, Indonesia 70 countries, Philippines 157 countries. Meanwhile, Vietnam only visa exemption for 24 countries in the form of unilateral and bilateral. Currently, the visa policy of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore is even more open than Vietnam before the Covid-19 epidemic and they are continuing to implement many flexible policies to attract more visitors and stay longer.
TAB proposed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in addition to continuing to apply the unilateral visa exemption policy to the group of 13 countries that have been granted unilateral visa exemption, adding 33 more countries with unilateral visa exemption, of which the remaining 20 countries belong to the European Union (coincident with the proposal of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism earlier). According to TAB's study on the impact of visa exemptions for five Nordic countries, the average number of international arrivals from the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy increased by nearly 5%.
List of countries TAB proposes visa exemption
The remaining 20 countries are in the EU: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia.
– 5 other countries: USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland.
– 8 countries are exempt from unilateral visa: Israel, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE.
– In addition, TAB recommends that the Government consider considering 4 countries and territories that are potential tourism markets with strong development, including: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and India.
“Compared to other ASEAN countries, the impact of the unilateral entry visa exemption of Vietnam is more positive, increasing the number of international tourists coming, the increase in revenue from tourism is many times higher than the decrease in revenue due to visa exemption", emphasized TAB.
Answer YouthLuong Hoai Nam, a member of TAB, affirmed that the proposal of the ministries on expanding the application of electronic visas (eVisa) and extending the validity of eVisa from 30 days to 90 days, expanding the list of countries exempted from unilateral visas, and extending the stay of visa-exempt guests from 15 days to 45 days is very timely and necessary. Not only that, it is necessary to consider completing the visa policy of our country in some other directions to increase the visa opening.
For example, citizens Vietnam have been granted long-term visas to many countries, such as 1-year visas of the US, visas of 2 - 5 years of Schengen, 3-year visas of Australia, 5-year visas of Korea, 10-year visas of Canada... completely on a unilateral basis. Vietnam should also issue similar types of long-term visas to citizens of some countries, not on a mass basis, but on a case-by-case basis. Similarly, people Vietnam Buying real estate in many countries is granted a residence card (also a long-term visa) for the whole family. We also need a similar policy to encourage foreigners to buy real estate in Vietnam Vietnam, every year to Vietnam many times.
In addition, guests entering Vietnam participation in MICE events (type of tourism combining conferences, seminars, exhibitions, event organization, reward tourism of companies for employees, partners...), golf tournaments... should be exempted from visa. Because usually the event will have participants from many countries and overseas organizers often choose to organize in countries with the most open visa policies to reduce the difficulty of applying for visas for event participants...
“The visa procedure at the border gate (Visa On Arrival) should continue to be improved in the direction that there is no need to apply for pre-approval, but visitors can go to the border gate to apply and be granted directly, with a fee that may be higher than other types of visa. Finally, the communication of our country's visa policy needs to be done better and stronger, through many channels, especially through our country's diplomatic missions abroad", emphasized Dr. Luong Hoai Nam.
Tourists at Hanoi night market food court
Openness of Vietnam attract affluent consumers
“Never, the name Vietnam close to world travelers like now. Almost every week we have a destination, a hotel, a project, a business or a dish on the top lists of continents and world, voted by prestigious international news agencies. We are a destination favored by the two largest markets in the world, India and China. People from markets as far away as Europe and America after arriving Vietnam all keep a good impression and vote for us in the polls. The tourism industry is looking forward to the Government and ministries and sectors to join hands to create favorable conditions, promote cooperation, and form more unique and attractive products. If you can do that, travel Vietnam The next period will surely bounce back very quickly,” a leader of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism acknowledged.
Drag the yacht to bring "big guests" to Vietnam
Cruise passengers have the characteristic of traveling in large groups. If a group of passengers traveling by air, chartering a package for a flight can only accommodate up to 1 guests, a ship can carry 1 - 200 guests. Plus the crew, crew, each ship docked can contribute to the list of international arrivals Vietnam 5.000 to 6.000 more people. With thousands of high-class tourists, willing to pay up to 250.000 USD for a few months' cruise at sea, each ship landing is an opportunity for destinations to increase revenue and revive the tourism industry. However, the reality of the ship's capacity to welcome passengers Vietnam very limited, first due to visa issues. Also because the number of passengers per ship is very large, it is very difficult to apply for a visa. Removing the visa barrier will be a great opportunity to Vietnam increase the number of cruise ships.
Mr. Vo Viet Hoa (Director of inbound division of Saigontourist Travel Service Company)
Need a special visa policy for the "super-rich"
We should also issue long-term visas easily to the elderly Vietnam elderly, remote workers in the field of technology. Special, Vietnam is owning a lot of advantages in developing high-class tourism such as golf tourism, luxury yachts, etc. To really explore these areas, visitors come here. Vietnam by private jet, business plane of Vietnam and foreign countries also need to be exempted from visa (according to the passenger list of the flight). They are often millionaires and billionaires, they need to be encouraged to come here to travel and look for investment opportunities.
Dr. Luong Hoai Nam (member of TAB)
In recent years, the foreign press has continuously paid tribute to the tourism industry Vietnam on all fronts. We have the best airlines in the world; "winning" the leading destination in Asia; There are a series of destinations with nearly 30 hotels, resorts and many travel and tourism companies that won first place in the categories of the "Oscars of the travel industry" - World Travel Awards (WTA) in Asia - Oceania...
Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, Chairman of the Inter-Pacific Group (IPPG), analyzes not only possessing the potential for scenic beauty, Vietnam increasingly attractive to global luxury consumers. “The prestigious fashion news site Fashion United even compares Vietnam with the US, saying that although the US is currently the leader in luxury goods sales with annual sales of up to
75 billion dollars. But the expansion of Vietnam is attracting affluent consumers and emerging as a potential hub for famous luxury brands,” Hanh cited.
Call this an unprecedented "golden opportunity" Vietnam, "king of brands" Johnathan Hanh Nguyen said that for many years, the tourism industry Vietnam facing the situation of many visitors but short stay, not spending much is due to not focusing on commercial services, there is no place for tourists to spend money. IPPG has negotiated with suppliers to achieve a selling price equal to the price in France, in Singapore and lower in China; Globally famous brands, "the rich" in the world have also increasingly paid attention Vietnam.
The airline is also waiting for a visa to "take off".
Like one of the two wings of the plane, the aviation industry is also waiting for tourism to remove the visa knot to take off together. If 1 is the peak, the tourism industry welcomes 2 million passengers, the aviation industry also transports about 2019 million international passengers, of which tourists account for about 18%.
Consider increasing the visa-free period
During the National Assembly session on the afternoon of June 2.6, commenting on the draft law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the law on exit and entry of citizens Vietnam and the law on entry, exit, transit and residence of foreigners in Vietnam, delegate (NE) Vu Tien Loc (Hanoi delegation), President of the International Arbitration Center Vietnam, shared: “As someone who works in the field of foreign affairs, in trade and investment promotion, our concern during the past time is that at every meeting with the foreign business community, we also have opinions on visa issues, visa procedures of our company. Vietnam".
According to him, Vietnam is a country with great potential for tourism, a leading destination for international investment attraction, but in fact "goes first, later in reopening tourism", partly because the visa policy is not open. Expecting that the two immigration bills with new and more open regulations will promote trade and investment promotion and tourism, Mr. Loc said that "this is probably the top gift and a very important message for the integration process, opening the door to invite and attract foreigners to come to Vietnam. Vietnam".
However, DP Loc also said that the regulation on increasing the time limit for granting visa certificates at the border gate for people entering the visa-free category from 15 to 45 days "is still not enough". The reason, 45 days is the average rate applied by countries in the region. Vietnam set the standard to reach the top of ASEAN in all fields, so it must be raised to 60 days to reach the advanced level in ASEAN.
Representative Nguyen Hai Anh (Dong Thap delegation) cited that in 2015, Indonesia exempted visas for 169 countries for 30 days, increasing the number of international visitors to this country by more than 24%, creating more than 400.000 jobs. He suggested that the Government expand the list of citizens of countries that are unilaterally exempted from visas to create conditions to attract tourists and still ensure national security.
According to NE Nguyen Tam Hung (Ba Ria-Vung Tau delegation), the number of countries Vietnam Visa exemption is only 5-15% of ASEAN countries. Correction of temporary residence time of foreigners in Vietnam has not increased as much as other countries in the region. Therefore, it is suggested that the drafting committee consider increasing the visa exemption period and extending temporary residence for foreigners.
Mai Ha – Le Hiep
According to a representative of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, in 2023, the airline aims to serve 34 million international passengers, equal to about 80% of 2019. By the end of April, the total number of international passengers has reached 4 million, equivalent to over 9,7% of the same period in 70. It is expected that by the end of the third quarter, the recovery rate will reach about 2019%. “However, these are expected numbers, whether achieved or not depends greatly on the number of international visitors to the country Vietnam and opening a visa is to remove an important knot," said a representative of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam.
Vietnam Airlines Deputy General Director Trinh Ngoc Thanh affirmed that the recovery goal of the aviation industry depends greatly on the openness of the visa policy. “For countries that are visa-free and have direct flights, within three years, the number of passengers will double, not by an average of 3-5%. Besides, Vietnam It is necessary to have a national tourism promotion program with programs to promote and promote tourism continuously in the coming time, "said Mr. Thanh. t
