Visa is open, when will tourism take off?

Waiting for instructions at "G" time

Excitedly sending information to partners and making products in line with the new policy to offer for the peak season at the end of this year and next year as soon as the National Assembly approved the policy of extending the visa-free stay period since June, however, Mr. Tran The Dung, General Director of Vietluxtour Travel, said that until "G-hour", the companies still did not know which countries would be eligible for the visa extension to 90 days; which countries would be granted temporary stay of 45 days; it was not clear whether only customers applying for an electronic visa would be eligible for a 90-day visa or if customers applying for a visa to go on a tour through the consulate would also be eligible for this policy; whether the list of countries with unilateral visa exemptions would continue to be expanded, and if so, which additional markets would be opened...

International tourists arrive at Cam Ranh airport, Khanh Hoa

"We need detailed and specific instructions so that we can promote and sell our products to customers. For now, we have identified the market for customers traveling for more than 14 days or more than 30 days, mostly European, Australian, and American customers. These markets often plan their trips very early. If we have information from June, travel companies will start building new, longer tour programs, contacting airlines, booking services... It will take about 3-4 months, and at the earliest, it will be October-November before the policies really start to "absorb". It is now the second half of August, the longer it takes, the more opportunities will be missed," said Mr. Tran The Dung.

Similarly, Viet Travel Company also sent information very early to partners so that they could proactively prepare appropriate steps when applying the new visa policy. However, the company representative said that the company still could not "finalize" the tour group as planned because there was no official announcement and instructions from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The procedures had to be completed before the tour price could be set and the partners also had to wait for detailed instructions to know what to do regarding the procedures.

Also waiting for official information from the authorities to know the details of the e-visa registration procedure for customers, Mr. Nguyen Thien Phuc, Product Director of Vidotour Indochina Travel, informed that although he had only sent a general policy, Vidotour had received many positive signals from partners. Mainly doing tours for groups from 13 European countries that have been exempted from unilateral visas, Vidotour's partners have registered to adjust the tour from a maximum of 14 - 15 days, extending it to an average of 21 days. In particular, most customers want to spend more time going to the beach and rebuild the Indochina tour program with more "generous" time.

"Previously, visitors to Vietnam who wanted to go to Laos or Cambodia had to leave immediately and could not return. French visitors were the most "miserable" because from Laos, it was very difficult to find an international flight back to France. With the new policy, they can go from Vietnam to Laos and then return to Hanoi to stay for 1-2 more nights, and it is easier to fly back, so they really like it," Mr. Phuc cited. However, Vidotour leaders also predicted that it would be in the second quarter of 2024 that the new visa policy could really create a breakthrough in the number of international visitors because tourist groups have now completed all their plans for their trips from now until the first quarter of 2024.

The leader of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said that basically, the new visa policy guidelines have been issued specifically in Article 2 of the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam. This morning (August 15), the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will hold a conference to disseminate and thoroughly implement the application of the new policy to local tourism departments and relevant state management agencies.

Once you've brought guests in, how do you keep them?

Not only has the number of visitors increased, according to Mr. Nguyen Thien Phuc, the loosening of visa policy also brings opportunities for the Vietnamese tourism industry to restructure its product system and increase tourism growth in terms of "quality".

For example, there are currently traditional product lines such as sea and island tourism, eco-tourism... but due to the limitation of the length of stay, tourism businesses cannot promote it. A 14-day tour can only include 2 nights at sea. However, with the current policy, it is possible to diversify product lines, create a 5-6 day sea tour program, from Ho Chi Minh City taking guests to Long Hai or Phu Quoc. The restaurant, hotel and destination system will benefit more. At the same time, depending on the customer base, many new products will be built. Customers like to explore local culture, in the past if they went to Hoi An for 2 nights, they could only go to Hue for 1 night or vice versa. Now they can stay in both places for 2-3 nights.

Or instead of worrying about "running" to catch flights on time like before, customers can travel across Vietnam by train without having to "cut off" areas in the middle of the route such as Nha Trang, Quy Nhon... Destinations that were previously inconvenient by flight routes such as the Central Highlands provinces will now also have more opportunities to build tours because customers have more time, enough to explore many places. With such an approach, the visa policy will attract customers to stay longer, spend more, and many localities that were not major tourist centers in the past will also have the opportunity to exploit their potential and develop more strongly.

"However, it should be noted that the new visa policy will create opportunities for visitors to Vietnam to visit many destinations and explore many aspects, which means the new pressure is how to make visitors return. Therefore, the tourism industry needs to focus on product development, always have new programs and attractive new products. At the same time, improve the connection between factors in the tourism ecosystem, from travel to transportation (including air, train, road, waterway), accommodation, restaurants... to have good-priced product packages, increasing the competitiveness of destinations", Mr. Nguyen Thien Phuc emphasized.

Director of Nam Phuong Tourism Company - Ly Viet Cuong also affirmed that synchronization is extremely important in the tourism development strategy. We open our doors to welcome guests, create conditions for guests to stay for a long time, but there must be "something" for guests to stay and spend money. Nam Phuong's customers are mainly from the US, Australia, New Zealand markets... they are no longer unfamiliar with the open visa policies of tourist countries.

Therefore, they are not too excited or surprised about Vietnam's new visa policy. On the contrary, what customers care about is whether Vietnam now has any new attractive destinations, whether there are any more special products, whether you let us stay for more days but will you ensure enough places to play, places to spend money for us to stay for that many more days... If you only point out more destinations, taking Ho Chi Minh City as the center, it is no different from connecting 2-3 tours, not attractive enough.

"For example, before, visitors to Ho Chi Minh City stayed for 3 days, visited 5 sightseeing spots and 5 shopping spots. Now, if we extend the tour to 5 days, what will they do and where will they go in the other 2 days? We are only meeting the needs of existing products. We need to diversify or expand. The river route product used to run out of time, so we need to add more points, increase activities on the route for 1-2 days; or create shopping areas, quality entertainment products so that visitors have to open their wallets and spend a lot of money... Only then will tourism quality be improved and the visa policy will truly be effective," Mr. Ly Viet Cuong suggested.

From August 15, temporary residence period for citizens of 13 countries will be increased to 45 days.

The Government has just issued Resolution No. 128/NQ-CP dated August 14 amending Resolution No. 32/NQ-CP on visa exemption for citizens of a number of countries. Accordingly, visa exemption will be granted to citizens of the following countries: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Belarus with a temporary stay of 45 days from the date of entry, regardless of passport type or purpose of entry, on the basis of meeting all entry conditions. Previously, the National Assembly passed a law amending and supplementing 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. Accordingly, the temporary stay for citizens of countries unilaterally exempted from visas by Vietnam is extended to 45 days, an increase of 30 days compared to previous regulations.

Mai Ha

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