VietNamNet Bridge – The HCM City Tourism Association has sought the continuation of an existing visa waiver for citizens of five Western European countries (UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy) and the addition of India and Australia to the list.

Foreign visitors in HCM City. — VNS File Photo

The visa exemption policy that allows visitors from the five European countries to stay in Viet Nam for up to 15 days without a visa expires at the end of July.

Many tourism enterprises want the Government to continue the waiver and announce its decision soon, so that their international partners can sell tour programmes.

“We want the visa waiver to last at least until June 30 next year and hope the Government will have a final say soon so that we can map out promotional programmes,” Nguyen Thi Khanh, deputy chairwoman of the association, told a conference last week.

The unilateral visa waiver came into force in 2015.

VNS