Starting from July 1st, Vietnam has been offering visa exemptions for single-entry visits for visitors from Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Spain and Belarus. Various action plans have been put in place in order to attract more visitors from these countries.
Vietnam's tourism industry is working with six countries' embassies in Vietnam and collaborating with representative bodies in those countries to hold international conferences and launch tourism programs.
Nguyen Van Tuan, General Director, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said: "European visitors usually have travel plans from 6 months to 1 year. Our visa waiver expires after 1 year, so if we do not act in time, this policy will not work for visitors from such countries".
The current waiver is only 15-days of stay, so visitors will have to apply for a visa if they want to stay longer. This has created some obstacles for the rapid growth of tourism development.
Vu The Binh, Deputy Chairman, Vietnam Tourism Association said: "We suggest that if visitors extend their stay for more than 15 days, travel agencies will pay the visa fees for their customers when they have to apply visa. The visa exemption is already a favor, we just need to be more active".
"I think our tour packages need to provide more details with better quality and reasonable prices. For example, if possible, we can sale the packages from 30% to 50%", Tran Van Long, CEO, Vietnam Society of Travel Agents said.
Vietnam has set a target of welcoming 730,000 visitors from the 5 Western European countries this year, an increase of nearly 15% compared with last year. Vietnam is also striving to become the destination for Belarusian tourists in the Asia-Pacific region./.
