After Covid-19, Vietnam was one of the countries that reopened its borders the earliest in the region, but the number of international tourists to Vietnam had quite disappointing results. The total number of international visitors to Vietnam in 2022 only reached over 3.66 million, lower than the set target of 5 million visitors.
At the same time, Vietnamese airlines have completely restored their flight networks and opened many new international routes to promote tourism. However, many international flights are still lacking passengers, leading to exploitation activities not meeting expectations.
Expanding visa policy will help attract more international tourists to Vietnam.
One of the reasons why the goal of welcoming international tourists has not been achieved is because the visa policy still has many inappropriate points.
Looking at neighboring countries, we can see that Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia... all achieved or exceeded their international visitor target in 2022. The common feature of these countries is easy visa and entry policies.
The total number of international arrivals to Thailand in 2022 reached 11.15 million, a sharp increase from the previous year’s figure of 428,000. According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, this impressive result comes from the policy of extending visa exemptions for visitors from 64 countries from 30 to 45 days and increasing the length of stay for visa holders from 15 to 30 days.
Singapore is also one of the countries with a fairly "open" visa policy, with only 36 countries and territories requiring a visa, the rest are completely visa-free with a stay of 30 - 90 days. After the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of international visitors to this island nation exceeded expectations with 6.3 million visitors.
Meanwhile, the number of countries that are granted E-visas to Vietnam is low, the duration of E-visas is no more than 30 days, which is a short period of time, and has not attracted more foreigners, especially the group of guests who want to stay long-term in Vietnam; has not attracted more people who want to survey, learn about the market, and seek long-term investment opportunities in Vietnam.
Faced with these shortcomings, in the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens and the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam, the Ministry of Public Security proposed to increase the duration of E-visa from 30 days to 3 months, valid for one or multiple entries; expand the issuance of e-visas to citizens of all countries and territories and assign the Government to decide on a specific list.
Expanding visa policy will help attract more international tourists to Vietnam.
The draft also stipulates increasing the temporary residence period from 15 days to 45 days for citizens of countries that Vietnam unilaterally exempts from visas and will be considered for visa issuance and temporary residence extension according to other provisions of the law.
This is information that international tourists and investors are eagerly awaiting, hoping to soon be approved and officially implemented to promote tourism development, attract investment, and contribute to the development of the country's economy.
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