VietNamNet Bridge - Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has directed the relevant departments to assess the political, economic and security impacts after the visa waiver for tourists from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia and four Nordic countries.

At the meeting of the State Steering Committee on Tourism recently, many people asked the Government to consider and promulgate policies to create favorable conditions for international tourists to Vietnam, such as unilateral visa exemption for tourists from some key markets (Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia and four Nordic countries) and to adjust the stay of tourists with visa waiver to 30 days instead of 15 days.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to make comprehensive assessment of the impacts on visa exemption for citizens of the seven above countries.  

In April 2013, the Vietnam Tourism Association proposed the Government to continue the visa waiver for these seven countries while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the trial visa free for the seven countries makes Vietnam loss $50 million.

According to Vu The Binh, vice president of the Vietnam Tourism Association, if the Government does not exempt visa for tourists from these countries, Vietnam will lose competitive advantage because Thai Lan now provides visa exemption for 55 countries and Malaysia for 155 countries.

Binh said that, if compared with other countries in the region, Vietnam is still not too attractive destination. Furthermore, of the seven countries with visa free, South Korea, Russia and Japan are the potential markets of Vietnam tourism. In 2012, revenue from tourists of these three countries was $2 billion and VAT revenue was $200 million.

Kim Ha