VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of countries in the world have offered attractive preferences in administrative procedures and tour fee discounts to lure Vietnamese travelers.

Shortly after South Korea announced the decision on cutting the visa fee from $30 to $20 and applying more simple procedures for travelers to prove their financial capability, which paves the way for more Vietnamese travelers to the country, Turkey has announced the new entry policy.

The country has offered e-visa for Vietnamese who come to Turkey on business or travel. Vietnamese travelers, who have Turkish Airlines’ return tickets, valid passports and visas granted by Schengen or OECD’s member countries, just need to access to the Turkish migration agency to declare information, make payment with credit cards and print e-visas.

Prior to that, Japan announced the multiple-entry visa policy applied to Vietnamese travelers, instead of single-entry visa.

In late October 2013, in a working session with the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) in Hanoi, the representative from the Japan tourism promotion agency talked about its purpose of attracting 200,000 Vietnamese tourists to Japan by 2015, higher than the 55,000 travelers in 2011.

Nguyen Quy Phuong, Director of the Travel Department under VNAT, believes that the figure of 200,000 Vietnamese travelers is within reach as the Japan tourism promotion agency has been carrying out a lot of promotion activities in Vietnam.

The agency has organized “famtrips” for Vietnamese travel firms and newspapers to learn about Japanese tourism. Especially, the discount rate of up to VND10 million has been offered for a lot of tours to Japan.

In the past, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia were known as the markets which offered most preferences to Vietnamese travelers. Nowadays, more and more destinations also offer attractive preferences to lure Vietnamese travelers.

South Korea has promised to give specific support to the groups of Vietnamese coming to the country to attend meetings, offer the 10-15 percent discounts for self-supported travelers, using services in winter in resorts, ski resorts, amusement parks…

Taiwan External Trade Association has announced to prop up air tickets and hotel rooms, or pay cash to the companies which bring Vietnamese travelers to the territory to use healthcare and aesthetic services.

The healthcare service companies, including insurance companies and the ones in the tourism sector which have the annual turnover of $1 million, or the organizations with 300 members, would enjoy the 4-day-and-3-night stay in hotels and the transport service to the airport.

Tran Xuan Hung, Director of Viking travel firm, has noted that foreign countries prove to be very dynamic to approach Vietnamese tourists.

When Viking’s executives came to Bhutan to survey the market to prepare for the tours there on the 2014 Tet, they were welcomed by the local tourism agencies and told that the first groups of Vietnamese travelers would be received by government’s officials.

A senior executive of a HCM City-based travel firm said that the professional tourism promotion campaigns carried out by foreign countries explains why more and more Vietnamese still travel abroad despite the economic downturn.

The number of Vietnamese travelers to South Korea, for example, increased by 20 percent in the first nine months of the year, while the number of travelers to Japan is expected to double this year to 100,000.

Thanh Mai