Tourism Department in Ho Chi Minh City is about to extend the normal 15 – day visa exemption to the 30 – day one for the five European countries.
According to an unnamed source, Ho Chi Minh City’s Tourism Department is on its way to apply for admission from the the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to extend the length of European tourists’ visa – free stay. The countries that are going to be considered for visa extension are Germany, France, UK, Spain and Italy.
Tourists from Europe are in favor of tours across Vietnam and the Indochina tour which is the combination of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Hence, the 15 – day visa free is quite short. Moreover, during their trip, they normally don’t enter the country once but many times so multiple entries should also be allowed.
European visitors have officially been exempt from visa when traveling to Vietnam since July 1st with an aim to increase the number of visits to the country.
However, travel companies in the city stated that the Government still required fee when visitors wanted to extend their stay in Vietnam beyond 15 days.
They expect to have at least 30 days of visa exemption.
Besides, this new visa exemption program will only be available for one year and this means no long – term plans can be made to boost visits from the 5 mentioned countries.
Currently, citizens from South Korea, Finland, Russia, Japan, Norway, Denmark, Belarus, Sweden and ASEAN countries are exempt from visa when visiting Vietnam.
Vietnam has recorded a decrease of 11.3% in the number of international visitors this year.
Tourism companies believe that the rising cost and complicated visa requirements are main causes of this fall.
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