Vietnam is the first country in Southeast Asia to reopen its borders following the COVID-19 pandemic, but the recovery rate of the tourism industry is the lowest throughout the region. According to experts attending a recent seminar in Ho Chi Minh City, the current rigid visa policy represents one of the ‘bottlenecks’ causing some of the biggest obstacles.

A restrictive visa policy?

Dr. Pham Trung Luong, former deputy director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, pointed out some of the factors resulting in a low number of international arrivals over the past year, including poor tourism products, cultural differences, environmental factors, and inconveniences at destinations. Among them, he said the story of visas for international tourists is the biggest challenge.

“This issue has been discussed for a long time, but has not been resolved completely. When tourism planning of Phu Quoc island was put forward for discussion, we proposed that the government offer a free visa policy for visitors from all countries and territories. But there is nothing new when we have offered visa exemption to visitors from only 20 countries and territories with a stay of no longer than 15 days,” Dr. Luong raised the issue.

Economic and tourism experts, as well as representatives of travel firms, agreed that Vietnam’s visa policy is too restrictive compared to other countries in the region and has contributed to hampering the tourism industry’s recovery efforts. The general sluggishness of the tourism industry has duly affected the operation of other economic industries, including the hospitality and aviation industries.

Tran Nguyen, deputy general director of Sun World, stated that her group has been working hard to raise the occupancy rate of the group’s hotel system back to pre-pandemic levels after Vietnam reopened its border to international tourism.

“Before the pandemic, our hotel occupancy rate was usually above 80% and Sun World was a favourite destination for world billionaires, celebrities and extremely classy customers. They came to stay not only at our hotels but other destinations, and indeed their presence also contributed to popularizing Vietnam’s tourism potential. But the occupancy rate now is far below the pre-pandemic level, causing us a headache to introduce a solution,” confided the executive.

Solutions proposed

According to experts, the number of countries that are exempt from visas when traveling to Vietnam remains small at only 24 countries, and the visa exemption period is very short at only 15 to 30 days. Meanwhile, alternative options such as issuing electronic visas or issuing visas at the border have not been promoted due to complicated procedures, a lack of human resources, and poor technology. All of these problems combined have put Vietnam at a disadvantage in the race to attract tourists from markets such as Europe, the Americas, and Oceania.

Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, a member of the Tourism Advisory Council, suggested that Vietnam should strive to increase the number of unilateral visa-free countries.

“Thailand is exempting visas for visitors from 68 countries, and Vietnam should do the same. Vietnam should also increase the length of visitors’ stay from 15 days to 30-45 days and allow visitors to enter and exit multiple times,” Dr. Nam proposed.

In particular, he said Vietnam should seek to expand the list of countries that are granted e-visas, upgrade the e-visa system, and adjust e-visa policy changes to compete with other countries.

“The visa policy should be considered as a competitive tool for attracting international tourists to Vietnam,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Quoc Ky, chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietravel Holdings, pointed to the fact that visa granting is a time consuming process in Vietnam.

“Japan and Taiwan (China) have introduced a policy of granting a single visa to tour leader and this visa is applicable to all members of the group. Vietnam is encouraging group tours, especially from China, our largest tourism market, why shall we not introduce the same policy?” Ky analysed.

Misunderstandings over tourist visas

However, Colonel Dang Tuan Viet, deputy director of the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security, said that the problem facing the tourism industry is not entirely caused by the current visa policy.

“Vietnam’s visa policy is described as open and favorable for economic and social development. Anyone can apply for a visa completely online through the portal of the Immigration Department, and the results will be returned to the applicant within three days in an electronic environment. Foreigners do not have to meet any officials and do not have to prove their financial status,” explained Col. Viet.

He also affirmed that the Vietnamese tourist visa is valid for 90 days, as opposed to 15 or 30 days mentioned by experts and representatives of tourism and aviation businesses.

“When entering the border gate, the law stipulates that the police officer or the border guard at the border gate only stamps for visitors to temporarily stay in Vietnam for 30 days. After the period, they can leave or return to stay for another 30 days, or ask the international travel agency to extend their temporary stay until the end of 90 days as expected,” he further elaborated.

“There is no obstacle or difficulty in applying for an extension of temporary stay for tourists by international travel agencies," the official affirmed.

Source: VOV