The Prime Minister has requested amending the visa policy by increasing the number of countries enjoying visa waivers, and by extending the permitted length of stay and expanding e-visas.

An online conference on 2023 tourism presided over by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh was held on March 15, 2023, one year after Vietnam officially reopened tourism after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism reported that Vietnam saw a boom in the number of domestic travelers in 2022 with 101 million travelers, or 50 percent higher than the targeted 60 million, and by far higher than the 85 million travelers in 2019, thus bringing high revenue of VND495 trillion.

However, the number of foreign travelers to Vietnam was just 3.7 million, a sharp fall of 80 percent compared with 2019 and just 70 percent of the plan.

Though Vietnam has resumed nearly all international air routes, the occupancy rate of Vietnam’s airlines was just 60-64 percent because of the low number of international passengers.

Minister of of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung cited a number of reasons for the lower number of foreign travelers.

First, Vietnam’s travel firms relied on traditional markets, but the markets had not reopened because of the pandemic. Vietnam has been late in promoting, advertising and disseminating information about Vietnam’s tourism.

Second, the visa policy has been changed with improvements, but the changes are insignificant compared with regional rivals.

Third, tourism products still cannot catch up with the world’s tendencies.

Fourth, Vietnam lacks workers for the tourism industry, especially ones with high qualifications and experience.

Fifth, links between regions and localities remain ineffective.

At the conference, IPP Group President Johnathan Hanh Nguyen emphasized the importance of the tourism value link chain, which Vietnam is lacking. 

The model includes transport, accommodation, food, creative technology, tourism resources, entertainment, shopping and other services.

In order to develop the tourism value chain model, the state will play an important role in coordinating and facilitating involved parties to join forces for mutual development. 

The businessman suggested launching a campaign similar to the one in Thailand in 2022 that helped Thailand receive 11 million foreign travelers.

He said that Vietnam needs to have solutions to increase the number of tourists and travelers’ spending. 

Nguyen Thi Nga, president of BRG Group, believes there should be more measures targeting international travelers who have high payment capability and prefer longer stays in Vietnam. 

Operator of many high-end hotels and resorts, Nga said the major clients of BRG are high-income earners who spend 2-3 times more than many foreign travelers to Vietnam. Their spending is $200-300 a day. 

She noted that Vietnam has never before seen such a high number of travelers to Vietnam to play golf, affirming that the potential is great as Vietnam is recognized as the best place for playing golf in the world. 

Visa policy

All travel firms said that improvements in visa policy would help lure more foreign travelers.

Dang Minh Truong, president of Sun Group, said though the visa policy has improved, more is still needed or Vietnam will lag behind in attracting foreign travelers.

Thailand is a tourism rival of Vietnam. In 2019, Vietnam received 18 million travelers, while Thailand received 40 million. In 2023, while Vietnam set a modest target of 8 million, Thailand plans to receive 25 million. 

According to MCST, Vietnam strives to receive 35 million travelers by 2030, and Thailand aims for 80 million by 2027.

Prime Minister Chinh, noting that it is necessary to look at the situation realistically, stressed that it is not an easy task to attract 47-50 million foreign travelers by 2030, make the tourism industry contribute 14-15 percent of GDP (gross domestic product), and increase the proportion of the service sector to GDP to 50 percent.

The Prime Minister asked ministries and branches to update, amend and supplement policies and regulations to help attract domestic and foreign travelers, as well as work on groundbreaking solutions to develop tourism based on Vietnam’s special advantages.

Thu Hang