Vietnam recently issued a visa exemption policy for visitors from six European countries specifically United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belarus good for 15 days effective from July 1, 2015 to July 30, 2016 and expectedly has resulted in more foreign tourists visiting the country.
This government resolution was decided upon in order to boost the tourism sector in the country. Since it was approved, Italian and Spanish visitors arriving in Vietnam rose to 10%. In 2015, foreign tourists who visited Hanoi reached 3.4 million, a 12% increase from 2014 or 40% of the country’s overall international visitors. Foreign visitors who arrived in Vietnam in total of the same year hiked up 1%.
Experts pointed out though that while this visa exemption policy brings a positive effect to the tourism of Vietnam, it needs to expand to include other countries such as Russia, Japan, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Korea, Finland and ten ASEAN nations. Deputy General Director of Plaza Hotel Vu Dinh Tan even suggested that the limit should extend up to 30 days like in other countries. Moreover, the policy should also include possible markets or business advantageous to Vietnam, especially those with a big capacity for spending.
Other Asian countries have followed suit, with Singapore exempting visa requirements for 150 countries and territories, and Thailand executing the same policy to over 50 countries. Both countries also utilized technology to further promote tourism in their respective areas by approving visas online.
But as far as tourism goes, the visa exemption policy is just one small part of a long spectrum. Perhaps more than anything else, it needs to update its products and improve its services in order to increasingly attract more international visitors to Vietnam.