New visa policy - a lever to help tourism develop

More time for visitors to experience

From August 15, the new visa policy allows visitors from some countries to be exempted from visas from 15 days to 45 days and extend the electronic visa (e-visa) from 30 days to 90 days, with multiple entries. This is good news for the tourism industry in promoting the attraction of international visitors in the coming time.

Mr. Ho Thanh Tu, General Secretary of the Da Nang Tourism Association, said that since the tourism market reopened, the City has implemented many tourism promotion activities, attracting a number of international visitors from key markets such as Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia.

However, with the visa extension of up to 90 days, we have more opportunities to attract guests to stay and increase spending ability, because the visa extension will create conditions for tourists to have more time to experience local services.

According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Quynh, General Director of Furama Resort Danang, by extending the entry visa to 90 days, we will have a new market share of guests, a market share of guests for vacation and stay; we will also have guests visiting relatives, tourists traveling across Vietnam... and thanks to that, we will increase the number of guests staying in Vietnam.

"Along with extending entry visas for international tourists, we also expect to build and develop a number of longer-term tourism products, such as combining with medical, beauty, health care centers, and resort packages to meet the needs of long-term guests," said Mr. Nguyen Duc Quynh.

Mr. Quynh added that recently, some localities in the Central region have welcomed the first charter flights from China and there will soon be more direct flights from India. This is a positive signal for the tourism industry in the Central region as well as the whole country.

Consider expanding the number of countries and territories eligible for visa validity

Mr. Steven Wolstenholme, Chairman and General Director of Hoianna Resort & Golf, affirmed that this is an extremely wonderful policy for tourism businesses. Extending the e-visa period to 90 days will help international tourists have more time and opportunity to visit and experience more services in Vietnam.

Mr. Steven Wolstenholme suggested that Vietnam should consider expanding the number of countries and territories that can enjoy this visa duration, which will create more favorable conditions for more international tourists to come to Vietnam. A transparent and long-term visa policy will improve competitiveness, make Vietnam more attractive to international visitors, and be a lever to help tourism develop.

According to Chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association Cao Tri Dung, the Government's application of the new visa policy will contribute to enhancing the country's competitiveness as a destination compared to some countries in the region; creating better conditions for businesses in exploiting visitors as well as creating favorable conditions for international visitors to Vietnam in general, Da Nang in particular, especially markets with long-term stay needs, Western Europe, North America, Australia...

Mr. Cao Tri Dung also added that with the new visa policy, tourists coming to Vietnam will have a very convenient time, and can apply for an electronic visa in a short time. This helps to attract a diverse market of tourists of all nationalities to Vietnam. This is a huge step forward, in line with the current trend of changing the structure of tourists, which is that individual tourists are increasing dramatically.

Following the trend of digital commerce, individual travelers and family travelers will dominate. Customers will proactively apply for visas through online platforms, not to mention the 90-day e-visa, which is very meaningful for the market segment of customers who want to stay in the winter, work, invest... without having to spend too much time traveling like before. "This can be considered the biggest solution in the entry visa application policy, a huge step forward for the tourism industry in general," affirmed the Chairman of the Da Nang City Tourism Association.