VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on July 24 asked the Prime Minister to extend visa exemption from 15 days to 30 days for Russian visitors.

The move aims to facilitate Russian tourists’ travelling to Vietnam, helping increase the frequency of tourism activities.

Earlier, the Prime Minister decided on unilateral visa exemption for citizens from seven countries for 15 days, including Japan, the Republic of Korea (in 2004), Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden (in 2005) and Russia (in 2009).

Vietnam has also exempted citizens from nine ASEAN countries from visa application for 30 days.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), in 2013 1.65 million Russian, Korean and Japanese arrivals came to Vietnam, spending US$2.55 billion in total. From 2009 to 2013, the number of Russian arrivals to Vietnam increased by 6.8 times, posting an annual growth rate of 58.53% on average.

In the first half of 2014, Vietnam welcomes 194,000 Russian arrivals, up 25.9% from last year’s same period.

VOV/VNN