Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Pham Van Thuy assessed that Vietnam's e-visas are currently being positively evaluated thanks to expanding the scope of application to all countries and territories, extending the stay term to 90 days and convenient registration procedures, completely online, contributing to improving competitiveness at destinations and improving the entry experience for international tourists.
From a business perspective, Ms. Nguyen Vu Quynh Anh - General Director of the Entertainment and Tourism sector of Sun Group - assessed that Vietnam's visa policy has really made great strides but still needs improvement to compete with countries in the region. In fact, neighboring countries have much superior and more flexible visa policies than Vietnam.
Compared with other destinations in the region such as Malaysia with visa exemption for 156 countries, Singapore with 162 countries and the Philippines with 157 countries... Vietnam is still at a disadvantage.
We propose that the Government and relevant ministries and branches continue to remove and expand the list of countries with visa exemptions, especially prioritizing target and potential tourist markets such as New Zealand, Australia, China, India; tourist groups from emerging and high-potential markets such as: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Central Asian countries, European and North American tourists... to improve competitiveness for Vietnam tourism, Ms. Quynh Anh answered Lao Dong.
In particular, the tourism industry has implemented the 2025 Tourism Development stimulus Program - one of the key solutions to grow the market, extend the length of stay and increase spending of international and domestic tourists.
This year, the tourism industry will organize key international roadshow and fair programs such as ITB Berlin, WTM London, along with a series of events introducing Vietnam tourism (Roadshow) in Northeast Asia, Europe, Australia, India and North America to promote tourism to international friends, enhance business connections between travel businesses, hotels, airlines...
Vietnam is applying bilateral visa exemption policies for citizens of 15 countries with different temporary residence terms including Brunei, Myanmar (14 days); Philippines (21 days); Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Belarus (30 days); Chile, Panama (90 days).
Vietnam exempts unilateral visas for citizens of 12 countries including: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
For Phu Quoc, Vietnam exempts visas for foreigners to this island with a stay of no more than 30 days. Foreign citizens passing through an international border gate of Vietnam to visit Phu Quoc are also exempted from visas.
From August 15, 2023, the validity of an electronic visa for international visitors will be from 30 days to a maximum of 90 days, and can be issued once or many times of entry (previously only issued once and not more than 30 days).
Regarding electronic visa policies, the Law amending a number of articles of the Law on Exit and entry, effective from August 15, 2023, increases the validity of electronic visas from 30 days to no more than 90 days. The regulation on electronic visas is valid once or more times (previously, the validity of electronic visas was not more than 30 days, electronic visas were valid once).
