Ibaraki prefecture hopes for direct air route to Vietnam

Tokyo (VNA) – The Japanese prefecture of Ibaraki has said it will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Vietnam’s newest carrier Bamboo Airways in July 2019 to jointly conduct a survey on potential passengers in order to launch an air route between the prefecture and Vietnam.

After conducting successfully the first charter flights to Ibaraki airport and vice versa using Airbus A321 Neo aircraft in late April 2019, Bamboo Airways and the Japanese prefecture and a big tourist company of Vietnam decided to sign a MoU on July 1, under which the sides will continue charter flights and survey of passengers’ demands.

Ibaraki is home to a number of popular sites such as Kairakuen garden – one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan; Hitachi Seaside Park – one of the best places in Japan to view flowers all year round; and Ushiku Budda – the world’s largest bronze statue. 

Japan is one of the countries with the highest number of tourists to Vietnam. The two nations signed a joint statement on tourism cooperation. From January 1, 2004, Vietnam unilaterally waived visas for Japanese to travel and trade in Vietnam for 15 days.

On March 8, 2005, the two sides exchanged a diplomatic note on visa exemption for Vietnamese and Japanese citizens holding diplomatic and official passports for a stay of not more than 90 days starting from May 1, 2005.

Japan started relaxing regulations for granting multiple entry visa from September 30, 2014, and further loosened them from February 15, 2016 and single entry visa from November 20, 2014 for Vietnamese citizens.-VNA