​Proposing visa exemption for 33 more countries to attract international visitors

Proposing visa exemption for 33 more countries to attract international visitors

 
Vietnam is the first country in Southeast Asia to reopen to international tourism, but the recovery in international tourism has been much slower than that of regional competitors such as Thailand and Malaysia and Singapore.
 
The World Tourism Organization estimates that a liberal visa policy could increase the number of international tourists arriving by 5 to 25 percent each year. Vietnam witnessed this when for the first time exempted entry visas for five Western European countries. Currently, the visa policy of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore is much more open than that of Vietnam before the Covid-19 epidemic and they are continuing to implement flexible policies to attract more visitors and stay longer.
 
With the goal of continuing to expand and diversify markets with the potential to grow rapidly, have a large source of visitors, have high spending levels and stay long, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposes that besides continuing to apply unilateral visa exemption policy for a group of 13 countries that have been granted unilateral visa exemption, adding an additional 33 countries with unilateral visa exemption.


 
In particular, TAB supports the proposal of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism earlier on the list of the remaining 20 countries of the European Union (including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, and Greece) Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia) and 5 other countries: USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland. In addition, this unit proposes to add eight more unilateral visa-free countries: Israel, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.
 
In particular, TAB recommends that the Government consider considering 4 countries and territories that are potential tourism markets with strong growth potential, including: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and India. In case it is necessary to consider according to the roadmap, TAB recommends that the Government consider giving priority to countries that have been granted unilateral visa exemption (13 countries); followed by priority group 1 (19 countries); priority group 2 (14 countries) and the group recommending the Government to consider (4 countries and territories).


 
According to TAB's study on the impact of visa waivers for five Nordic countries, the average number of international arrivals from the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy increased by nearly 20%. Compared to other ASEAN countries, the impact of Vietnam's unilateral visa-free entry is more positive, increasing the number of international tourists coming, the increase in tourism revenue is many times higher than the decrease in tourism income for free visa.
 
Currently, the draft 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 is being submitted to the National Assembly. review association. In which, there are two contents that directly affect the tourism industry, which is the proposal to stipulate the e-visa period from no more than 30 days to no more than 3 months and the time limit for granting temporary residence certificates at the border gate for people on entry under unilateral visa exemption from no more than 15 days up to 45 days.



If you need any further information about Vietnam visa or Vietnam vacations, feel free to contact us at hotlines +84.903.278.853 (available 24/7). Or email us at support@govietnamvisa.com, our Customer-Care Consultants will respond within 2 hours during working time and 24 hours outside working time (GMT+7)