(Photo: Internet)

At a seminar on recovering tourism organized by Vietnam’s Youth newspaper last week, economists, tourism insiders, and airline representatives underlined the need to relax Vietnam’s visa policy.

Dr. Pham Trung Luong, former Director of the Research Institute of Tourism Development said Vietnam has great tourism potential with 8 world tangible heritages, 15 world intangible heritages, 11 world biosphere reserves, and 10 world heritage gardens.

"Visa policy is a very important factor and the primary issue we need to address. We have asked the Government to make Phu Quoc island a destination where we can implement visa exemptions. The policy of 14-day visa exemptions has been implemented for a long time for more than 20 countries," said Mr. Luong.

Vietnam exempts visas for visitors of 24 countries and territories for a period of 15 to 30 days and plans to increase the number of countries for unilateral visa exemption, expand the list of countries eligible for eVisas, and improve the eVisa system and policy.

Dang Tuan Viet, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Immigration Department of the Ministry of Public Security, said that applying for a visa can be done online via the portal of the Immigration Department and takes 3 days. Foreigners are not required to prove their financial status. Mr. Viet said that a tourist visa to Vietnam is valid for 90 days, even though the visa stamp given at the border is only valid for 30 days.  

"After the 30 days specified by the stamp, the visitor can exit and return for another 30 days. Travel agencies are free to apply for visa extensions for their customers up to total of 90 days." said Mr Viet.

A visa policy that lengthens the time foreign visitors can stay, expands the list of countries eligible for an e-visa and enables foreign visitors to make multiple entries will make Vietnam more attractive to foreign tourists.