Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, member of the Tourism Advisory Council, raised the issue at the Workshop "Opening visas, restoring tourism" organized by Thanh Nien Newspaper on March 10.
Increase to 30 - 45 days and allow multiple entries and exits
Discussing the story of visa relaxation, Dr. Luong Hoai Nam said that this is a long story, talked about a lot, but the issue raised by Thanh Nien Newspaper today is different, in a different context. That is, the two Vietnamese tourism and aviation industries are facing great difficulties after the pandemic, the direct cause of which is that the international tourism market has recovered too slowly compared to before Covid-19. He raised the question: "We can do everything to change the tourism industry. Why? Because we have no way back. The tourism picture is gloomy and there must be a solution to change it."
Dr. Luong Hoai Nam spoke at the workshop "Opening visas, restoring tourism" organized by Thanh Nien Newspaper on the morning of March 10.
Mr. Nam cited: In 2022, the number of international tourists to Vietnam will be 1/5 compared to 2019. Before the pandemic, Vietnam welcomed only 1/2 of international tourists compared to Thailand. That is a sad comparison when we have a lot of potential and great tourism advantages. Especially the rich source of natural, cultural and historical heritage. However, last year, the number of international tourists to Vietnam dropped to only 1/3 compared to Thailand. This year, if we are not careful, there is a risk of an even deeper drop.
"The above reality forces us to worry, not just be disappointed. If we continue to go backwards, the Vietnamese aviation and tourism industry will be in great danger. Because the financial health of businesses is very sad. Thousands of tourism businesses, hotels, tourist attractions, and entertainment venues are lacking international tourists, suffering heavy losses, accumulating debt, and cutting jobs. Many hotels are being offered for sale to pay off bank loans," Dr. Nam informed.
Similarly, all airlines in our country are "drowning in losses and debt". Specifically, Vietnam Airlines has accumulated losses of more than 34,000 billion VND, negative equity of more than 10,000 billion VND, and is at risk of being delisted. Subsidiary Pacific Airlines has accumulated losses of more than 10,000 billion VND, 3 times its equity. Bamboo Airways, which has only been in operation for a short time, has encountered the Covid-19 pandemic, no longer having the beautiful news as before, recently announcing an accumulated loss of more than 16,000 billion VND. Then Vietjet Air, after more than 10 years of announcing profits, has also lost 2,170 billion VND in 2022. Even Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietravel Corporation), a "hero" in aviation during the Covid-19 period, said that after the pandemic, this youngest airline was "like a bird without any feathers".
"Personally, I never said that visa policy is the cause of the difficulties that Vietnamese tourism and aviation businesses have encountered. However, if visa policy is opened up in parallel with tourism promotion, it will boost economic development, help tourism businesses, and especially bring more foreign currency into the country," Mr. Luong Hoai Nam shared.
"Rescuing international tourism is not only to save tourism businesses, airlines, primary and secondary resort real estate investors, but also to bring many sales opportunities and increase income for poor street vendors, with few visitors in tourist cities, their lives are much more difficult. With each international visitor, the opportunity to sell more gifts of street vendors in Sa Pa increases, and the opportunity for the poor to escape poverty also comes from here," Mr. Nam added.
Quickly "eliminate" the visa service problem
From there, Dr. Luong Hoai Nam suggested: It is necessary to increase the number of countries that unilaterally exempt visas. Thailand is currently exempting visas for 68 countries. Vietnam can open the visa exemption program to Thailand, increasing the length of stay from 15 days to 30 - 45 days. In particular, allowing tourists to enter and exit multiple times. Currently, visitors staying in Vietnam cannot return to Singapore, so they leave. Without this policy, Long Thanh airport in the future will find it difficult to carry out transit. Or all visitors from EU member countries should be exempted from visas. This is a safe, civilized and friendly group of visitors. Extend the duration of unilateral visa exemption programs to 5 years so that businesses can confidently market, build products, introduce and develop..." - Mr. Nam suggested.
Tourist visa services are distorting visa policies and instead of providing support, visa service companies are "torturing" tourists to get money.
For visitors from the US, China, and India (major tourism markets with direct flights to Vietnam), there should soon be an agreement on a bilateral long-term visa policy with a term of 5-10 years, similar to the long-term visas that some countries have been granting to Vietnamese citizens.
Visa exemption for foreign delegations entering Vietnam to participate in MICE events, golf tourism (based on the list of MICE and golf event organizers); visa exemption for tourists and crew coming to Vietnam by private plane for business or tourism purposes. It is necessary to create conditions for the super-rich to enter to increase revenue from airports, luxury hotels, etc.
In particular, expand the countries that are granted eVisa; upgrade the eVisa system in terms of features and website interface and always adjust and change eVisa policies to compete with other countries. Visa policy must be considered a "competitive tool to attract international tourists to Vietnam".
He noted that it is necessary to soon promote the application of facial recognition technology and passport readers in immigration management for both Vietnamese and foreign citizens. Many countries have deployed these technologies, even removing entry and exit stamps from passports and separate visas, implementing management entirely by technology based on immigration data. "I recently entered the US, without looking at my passport, the border security officer told me to look at the camera and ask Mr. Nam, right? That's it. In my opinion, investing in modern technology is extremely important. Sometimes, the smile there is not so important, as much as technology..." - Mr. Nam said
In particular, Dr. Luong Hoai Nam said: "There is a problem that many businesses do tourism but focus more on visa services than tourism services, causing distortion in the industry. Many customers said that this company quotes visa prices daily, that service is more expensive, cheaper... That is not the price set by the government but the service price, which leads to the problem of creating unhealthy competition between businesses that do tourism poorly, do visas well and vice versa. This type of tourist visa service is distorting visa policy and instead of supporting, they "torture" tourists to get money. Visa policy needs to "eliminate" this negative problem".
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