The law that amends and supplements articles in the Immigration Law was ratified by the National Assembly and will take effect on August 15, 2023. It is the driving force to implement Resolution No 82 on tourism recovery.

Deputy chair of the Vietnam Tourism Association (VTA) Cao Tri Dung said that the new visa policy will lead to "basic changes in the structure of travelers as well as the Vietnamese service structure".

The open visa policy will pave the way for new sources of travelers, especially independent travelers and self-guided small groups of travelers, and improve Vietnam’s competitiveness in approaching international tourists.

Dung believes that the number of foreign travelers to Vietnam in the last six months of the year and following years will increase significantly, especially independent travelers and those using e-visas.

Nguyen Cong Hoan, CEO of Flamingo Redtours, said this creates favorable conditions for travel firms to design different tourism products, including long tours and tours allowing travelers to go in and out of Vietnam multiple times.

Hoan said travel firms are creating tours with longer stays for older or retired travelers, who have time for traveling. These could be tours to the countryside, or to discover culture. Travelers can also travel to Vietnam for healthcare services, visit other Indochina countries and then return to Vietnam.

His has clients from quick-responding markets such as Northeast, Southeast and South Asia. As for former markets, the firm has prepared products for the year-end season and next year.

Pham Ha, president of Lux Group, believes that with the expansion of the countries that can enjoy longer free e-visas (to 90 days), with no limitation in number of entries, travelers will stay longer, 3-4 weeks instead of 14-15 days as previously seen. 

Longer tours or 21- or 23-day tours from the north to the south, or to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and then return to Phu Quoc and Da Nang in Vietnam are being designed. He hopes that revenue of the high inbound tour season, starting from September, will increase by 30 percent.

VietIndo Travel is focusing on designing tourism products from September and October. It is expected that there will be more long tours (more than 15 days), because the problems with visas have been settled.

Vietnam wants higher-spending tourists

VTA chair Vu The Binh said the policy would create favorable conditions for foreign travelers to come to Vietnam, but if they come and don’t feel excited, don’t spend more money, and don’t stay for more days, a higher number of travelers will have little significance.

“Becoming a luxury tourism market, attracting travelers who are willing to spend money and stay for many days in Vietnam is the target of the tourism industry,” Binh said. “To reach that end, we have to have a clear policy and strong determination."

“There must be close links among branches and travel firms so that we have tourism products with most reasonable prices in our supply chain. Though prices are not the decisive factor in the competition, they will still attract foreign travelers,” Binh continued.

Meanwhile, Hoan believes that the biggest challenge for Vietnam is the pricing. Tour prices are still not good because of the depreciation of the currency; higher airfares, with airfare accounting for 50-60 percent of tour fees; and higher input costs (hotel, restaurant, excursion fee, minimum wage).

However, AZA Travel’s CEO Nguyen Tien Dat said that Vietnam’s tourism product prices are not high, and that prices are competitive compared with 5-star services in other regional countries and in the world. 

He says that the problem lies in the traveler attraction strategy. Thailand offers low tour fees, and its revenue comes from tourists’ spending during tours. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s parties in the chain do not cooperate well to persuade travelers to spend money.

Ngoc Ha