The Ministry of Tourism has sent the proposal to extend visa waiver facility to 9 more countries. The proposal was made to increase the number of tourists visiting Vietnam.
As for now, 30 days visa waiver is granted to countries member of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), 15 days visa waiver is given to tourists from Japan, Russia, South Korea, Finland, Sweden and Norway.
The decision to extend service to more countries was take after a survey which suggested that Western European tourists stay longer than average tourists and also spend more money.
Which is why Ministry of Culture and Tourism has urged to extend the visa waiver to France, Germany, UK, Italy and Spain? Other than these countries, the facility will be extended to Australia and New Zealand because tourists from these 2 nations prefer to travel Vietnam during off season. Canada and India have also been included to the list because both these nations remain to be major market for Vietnam. Now it would be up to the government to decide whether to extend visa waiver to these countries or not.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism believe that visa waiver is important to boost tourism in Vietnam. It has cited the example of countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore where tourism performed better due to visa waiver scheme.
However, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky said that the visa Simpler procedures must be set in many methods. For example, visitors to Vietnam once and they will be free for Vietnam Visa for other times. Or make good circumstance for them to get Visa on arrival. With the largest travel company, they can authorize to issue the Visa to their customers but they must take responsible for the visa for their customers. Dubai is very successful in issuing the Visa by this way.
Moreover, the Visa Landing Office at the airport should be upgrade to let visitor can obtain the Visa on Arrival quickly.
