The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has proposed visaexemptions for visitors from certain markets in North America, Europe,Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia, and a lengthening of visa-free durationfor other markets to attract more foreign travelers to Vietnam, theSaigon Times Daily reported.
The proposal was made at a meetingbetween representatives of local tourism and trade agencies, touroperators, transport companies, big hotels, and the European Chamber ofCommerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) in Hanoi last week.
At themeeting, experts said visa exemption has been applied to a limitednumber of markets and visa procedures are still time-consuming.Moreover, visa on arrival has been granted to visitors from certainmarkets but the beneficiaries are required to complete complicatedprocedures two days before they arrive in Vietnam.
To attractmore international travelers, the tourism body wants a visa waiver forthose coming from the major visitor-generating and fast-growing markets.In addition, longer free visas of up to 30 days instead of 15 days havebeen sought for citizens from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia,Japan and the Republic of Korea.
VNAT has also urged streamlining visa-on-arrival procedures and considering issuing electronic visas.
VNATexpected the changes together with future promotions and improvementsin quality of tourism products and services will help the local tourismsector sustain growth at least in the next two years.
Similarchanges were also suggested by the Tourism Working Group under theVietnam Business Forum at a mid-term dialogue between the Government andthe business community in Hanoi early last month.
Figures of theGeneral Statistics Office showed the number of foreign visitors toVietnam dropped significantly in June and the number of Chinese andinternational tourists entering via the border gates with China halvedagainst May.
However, the total number of foreign arrivals in thefirst half of this year still rose 21.1 percent year-on-year rise to4.3 million.-VNA
The proposal was made at a meetingbetween representatives of local tourism and trade agencies, touroperators, transport companies, big hotels, and the European Chamber ofCommerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) in Hanoi last week.
At themeeting, experts said visa exemption has been applied to a limitednumber of markets and visa procedures are still time-consuming.Moreover, visa on arrival has been granted to visitors from certainmarkets but the beneficiaries are required to complete complicatedprocedures two days before they arrive in Vietnam.
To attractmore international travelers, the tourism body wants a visa waiver forthose coming from the major visitor-generating and fast-growing markets.In addition, longer free visas of up to 30 days instead of 15 days havebeen sought for citizens from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia,Japan and the Republic of Korea.
VNAT has also urged streamlining visa-on-arrival procedures and considering issuing electronic visas.
VNATexpected the changes together with future promotions and improvementsin quality of tourism products and services will help the local tourismsector sustain growth at least in the next two years.
Similarchanges were also suggested by the Tourism Working Group under theVietnam Business Forum at a mid-term dialogue between the Government andthe business community in Hanoi early last month.
Figures of theGeneral Statistics Office showed the number of foreign visitors toVietnam dropped significantly in June and the number of Chinese andinternational tourists entering via the border gates with China halvedagainst May.
However, the total number of foreign arrivals in thefirst half of this year still rose 21.1 percent year-on-year rise to4.3 million.-VNA
