The Southeast Asian country has been advised to abolish visa requirements imposed on tourists so that more people are able to visit, which could help very-much damaged tourism sector in the post-COVID period.
Vietnam was among the first countries in the region to have opened its doors after the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it has scored the lowest recovery in tourism – only 18.1 percent, while neighbouring countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia have reached a recovery rate between 31 and 26 percent, VisaGuide.World reports.
According to Chris Farwell from Tourism Advisory Board, Vietnam has failed to take advantage of the early phase of reopening, mainly due to visa issues. This year, Vietnam is expected to receive 3.5 million international visitors while its target for the year was five million.
Farwell called on the government to lift visa requirements for most countries as well as prolong visitors’ visa-free stays to 30 and 45 days in order to accelerate the recovery of tourism.
There are some visa exemptions already applying to nationals of 24 countries for stays between 15 and 30 days, except for Chile which got 90 days and a one-month single-entry e-visa to visitors from 80 remaining countries.
Expanding the list of countries whose nationals can get under facilitated conditions, such as simplifying e-visa procedures, works to Vietnam’s advantage, helping the country to rank higher on the post-COVID tourism recovery scale.
Citizens of countries and territories like India, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, are offered a 30-day single-entry e-visas.
TAB’s other member, Luong Hoai Nam, noted that Vietnam is considerably less open to its neighbours, considering the fact that travellers from only 24 countries can visit this Southeast Asia country while travellers from 65 countries can visit Thailand. Vietnam should follow Thailand’s example; industry experts have agreed, also saying that major key tourism markets like Europe, Canada, Australia and India.
Furthermore, the managing director of low-cost airline Vietjet, Dinh Viet Phuong said visa barriers should be waived as soon as possible. Just recently, Vietjet has launched new direct routes to India, in hopes of making up for the shortage of visitors from traditional markets, including China.
However, visas remain an issue, especially for Indian tourists, as Phuong said, and this issue should be resolved immediately so the tourism and aviation industry can recover accordingly with other countries.
Vietnam’s borders have been open since March 15 but the number of visitors has merely reached 2.95 million for all eleven months of 2022 – from 18 million recorded in pre-pandemic levels.
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