Proposal to exempt short-term visas for Chinese and Indian visitors

Proposal to exempt short-term visas for Chinese and Indian visitors

The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism proposed the Government that tourism demand can be stimulated by exempt short-term visas for visitors from large and potential markets such as China and India.

At the tourism development conference, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung also suggested that the Government expand unilateral visa exemption for visitors from countries with a higher level of development than Vietnam, spending as much as Australia, Canada, the US, and the remaining countries in the European Union (EU).

Mr. Hung also proposed piloting 3 years visas or 5 years visas to attract high-end or retired tourists.
The idea of ​​expanding visa exemption to promote tourism has been proposed many times by Minister Hung. With visa exemption policies, several nations in the region are vying and competing for visitors. Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, among others, respectively exempt visa for 162 countries, 157 countries, and 65 countries, while Vietnam now just exempt for 24 countries.

From Mid-August 2023, the Government allows the issuance of electronic visas to citizens of all countries and territories entering Vietnam. However, Mr. Hung said the electronic visa application process needs to be simple, the website interface is easy to operate and there is specific notification about the time for returning results.

At the meeting, Mr. Hung said that Vietnam needs to increase cooperation with international airlines to open new routes and increase the frequency of existing direct flights with key tourist areas. Airline ticket prices need to follow the spirit of "harmonious benefits, shared difficulties, bringing long-term benefits to all parties".

In the coming time, Vietnam will increase promotion in many markets including Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, North America, Australia, India, and the Middle East.

In the past 10 months, Vietnam welcomed nearly 10 million international visitors, an increase of 4.6 times over the same period last year, exceeding the yearly plan target. However, this number is still far from the pre-Covid-19 level of 18 million.

In conclusion, Vietnam is suggested that should be expand the exemtion visa for more potential areas, however this just is a proposal. We need to follow the updates on visa news from Vietnam Goverment in the hope that in near future there will be more nationalities be exempted from visas.