Visa exemption to be extended for visitors from 5 European countries

Tourists from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy will continue to be exempted from visa until June 2021, Minister-Chairman of the Government Officie Mai Tien Dung said at the Government’s press conference on May 4.

According to Dung, the move, at the proposal of several ministries, received the nod from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the Government meeting on May 3.

The current visa waiver programme is to expire at the end of June this year.

Head of the Secretariat of the Vietnam Tourism Advisory Board Hoang Nhan Chinh said the council first raised the issue in March.

He added that the council is glad that the PM had assigned the Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to research the pilot of electronic visa issuance and amendments to the Immigration Law.

Chinh also said the 15-day duration for visa exemption also needs to be re-considered, as visitors from European countries tend to stay more than two weeks. In addition, he suggested revising the stipulation that requires at least 30 days for visa-exempted tourists to return to Viet Nam after exiting the country.

Visa exemption for tourists from the five Western European countries has helped increase the number of tourists from these markets by 10.1 percent since it was introduced in mid-2015, according to the Viet Nam Tourism Advisory Board.
Source: VNA