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| Last year, Vietnam welcomed 12.6 million tourists. VNA photo |
HCM CITY The continued expansion of visa-free policies will benefit the development of tourism in Vietnam, experts said.
The relevant authorities insisted on the implementation of key tasks after the 2024 Lunar New Year holiday, which includes drafting proposals for visa-free policies for citizens of selected countries in accordance with new developments and bilateral cooperation.
According to Hoàng Nhân Chính, head of the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB) Secretariat, Vietnam’s tourism in 2023 has shown an impressive recovery, reaching a 70 percent recovery rate.
Innovating visa policies is a common trend among countries in the region to attract tourists following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The continued expansion of visa-free policies is expected to help diversify the tourism market, increase the number of international tourists in Vietnam, extend their length of stay, and increase the spending capacity of international tourists.
This, in turn, increases revenue for tourist destination towns and creates more direct and indirect tourism employment opportunities.
In addition, this policy will increase the number of air travelers, facilitate international trade exchange and attract more foreign investors to Vietnam.
Chin added that in July 2023, TAB sent some research to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposing to expand the list of visa-exempt countries.
This proposal is consistent with immigration laws and is intended to stimulate the development of the domestic tourism industry.
TAB proposed unilateral extension of visa exemption for another 33 countries, including the remaining 20 countries of the European Union – Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands , Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia – as well as 13 other countries such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, Israel, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
The country should also consider four potential tourism markets, namely mainland China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong and India.
Open the door
Vietnam’s main competitors such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are actively trying to attract tourists from key markets and have created easy conditions for foreign visitors to enter their countries.
From mid-August 2023, Vietnam will issue e-visas to citizens of all countries, extending temporary stay periods from 30 to 90 days, with unlimited entries and exits.
The e-visa policy has made attracting tourists to Vietnam much more convenient than before.
Strict or time-consuming visa requirements will reduce tourists’ desire to visit a country. Therefore, according to Chin, a better visa-free policy will help widen the doors to receive tourists.
It is a short-term solution to open doors to attract international markets along with medium and long-term solutions to internal problems of the tourism sector such as promotion, digital marketing, product diversity, destination management and human resource development.
Last year, Vietnam welcomed 12.6 million tourists, achieving a 70 percent recovery. This is a relatively high result compared to the countries of the region.
This result was achieved thanks to the efforts of the entire industry, but above all thanks to the policies that facilitate the development of tourism, as well as the careful attention and guidance of the Prime Minister.
Immediately after the amendment of the Immigration Law came into effect on August 15, 2023, tourism in Vietnam witnessed an increase in the number of international tourists compared to previous months.
According to the Tourism Advisory Board’s calculations, in 2024, the tourism industry could achieve the goal of welcoming 17-18 million international tourists.
By June 2024, if the growth rate of international tourists in Vietnam is good, the new targets should be adjusted for the last six months of the year to give the tourism industry more opportunity to meet new targets. VNS
