VietNamNet Bridge – The Government has approved more international airports and seaports to open counters from on July 1 for value-added tax (VAT) refunds for the goods foreign visitors purchase in Vietnam and bring along with them when exiting the country.

A passenger drops by a shop in Noi Bai International Airport. In addition to Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat, more international airports and seaports have been allowed to open VAT refund counters.

The Ministry of Finance has included Danang and Cam Ranh international airports; Danang and Nha Trang international seaports; and Khanh Hoi international wharf in HCMC in the revised list of venues having VAT refund counters for foreign passport holders.

Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat have implemented a pilot scheme to refund VAT for foreign visitors since July 2012. These are the two biggest international airports in the country.

Under the scheme, foreign visitors get 85% of the VAT imposed on their purchases from VND2 million (nearly US$94) each bill while the remaining 15% is counted as a service charge by participating banks Vietcombank, Maritimebank, VietinBank and BIDV.

Nearly 70 firms have registered more than 260 sales points participating in the scheme in the past two years. But, more businesses and banks will join when more international airports and seaports are allowed to open counters for VAT refunds.

The number of beneficiaries from the scheme and the VAT refund sum have increased in the past two years. According to the General Department of Customs, over 8,620 foreigners had got refunds totaling VND32.9 billion for more than VND425 billion worth of the goods they had purchased in the country.

Vietnam attracted 7.57 million international visitors last year, a year-on-year rise of 10.6%, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). Almost six million of them entered the country by air, nearly 1.4 million by road and 193,200 by ship.

The GSO estimated international arrivals in the first half of this year at more than 4.28 million, up 21.1% over the same period last year. More than 3.42 million of them came by air, nearly 824,000 by road and 40,600 by ship.

The top five visitor-generating markets in the first half are mainland China with more than 1.13 million visitors, South Korea with 405,600, Japan with less than 318,000, the United States with 246,300 and Taiwan with 207,700.

Tourism revenue contributed by international visitors was US$7.5 billion last year and around nearly US$4.1 billion in January-June this year, according to GSO. The country is expected to welcome 8.6 million international visitors and post total tourism revenues of nearly US$8.2 billion from inbound travelers this year.

SGT/VNN