Pham Trung Luong, former deputy head of the Institute for Tourism Development Research (ITDR), said that Vietnam is far behind Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines in the number of countries given visa waivers and the duration that travelers can stay in their countries. 

The current visa policy has been applied in Vietnam for too long.

Vietravel’s chair Nguyen Quoc Ky said that Vietnam If a person is walking on the street, he will not choose to enter a slightly opened door, because he is not sure if he can stay there, or be asked to leave soon.

Tran Nguyen from Sun Group said a favorable visa policy would help the number of foreign travelers grow by 5-25 percent and the revenue increase by 35-40 percent. 

She believes that it would be better to expand the list of countries and territories to enjoy a visa waiver. Travelers who can stay for a long time will help develop tourism.

For example, travelers from Australia, New Zealand and Europe often stay for a long time at resorts in Da Nang and Phu Quoc. Under Vietnam’s visa policy, they can stay for only 15 days.

Luong Hoai Nam, a member of the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), said that the visa policy is not the only reason that causes difficulties for the aviation and tourism industries in Vietnam, but he believes that it is necessary to be more open.

At present, Vietnam offers a 14-30-day visa waiver to nine ASEAN countries, and unilaterally offers a 15-day visa waiver to 13 countries, and a 30-90 day visa waiver to two countries (which have nearly no visitors to Vietnam). As such, citizens of 24 countries in total can enjoy visa waiver when traveling to Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Thailand offers visa waiver to 68 countries for 30-45 days. Singapore offers visa waivers to many countries. It only has 36 countries which have to apply for visas when entering Singaporean territory.

The country has a total area just half of Da Nang, but the number of foreign travelers to the island each year is double that of Vietnam.

Citing the examples, Nam of TAB gave five suggestions related to the visa waiver policy.

First, Vietnam needs a visa policy like Thailand’s, which means increasing the length of stay in Vietnam to 30-45 days. Travelers should be allowed to enter and exit Vietnam many times during that time, not only once. 

Now, travelers come to Vietnam, leave for Singapore, and cannot return to Vietnam because of the one-time visa granting policy.

Second, it would be better to offer the visa waiver to all EU members, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, some Middle East countries and Western Asia. Each visa waiver needs to be valid for at least five years instead of 1-3 years. 

As for some large countries that Vietnam does not apply visa waivers, the government needs to negotiate to reach a bilateral long-term method for citizens of the two countries. 

Third, the e-visa policy needs to be more open. The system and interface needs to be upgraded for easier use.

Fourth, the state needs to consider its visa policy as a tool to attract international tourists. It needs to keep a close watch over the implementation of the policy to ensure the competitiveness of Vietnam's policy in comparison with other countries.

Fifth, travel firms in Vietnam are providing visa services at different fees and different times. The visa policy has been distorted and this must be eliminated.

Colonel Dang Tuan Viet, Deputy Director of the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), said citizens of 13 countries enjoy a visa waiver and they can stay in Vietnam for 15 days regardless of purpose. 

Foreigners entering tourism sites and coastal economic zones (EZs) can enjoy visa waiver and they can stay there for 30 days. In Phu Quoc Island (Kien Giang province), for example, they can enter the place without limitations on the numbers of entries and moments of entries/exits.

Regarding e-visa, the temporary stay is 30 days. Vietnam’s e-visa is among the most modern in the world. Visitors can use smartphones or personal computers to make declarations on the Ministry of Public Security’s (MPS) portal. The visa granting fee is $25, which is paid to the account of the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

Visitors will get the results after three days. E-visa information will be directly sent to aviation units, police agency and border guards to grant entry to foreigners then. This process has been applied for 4 years.

Since March 15, 2022, 1.2 million foreign travelers have entered Vietnam with e-visa.

Tran Chung