Tourism ministry seeks longer visa waiver for Europeans The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proposed the Government renew and extend the visa waiver for citizens of five Western European countries from the current one year to five years and the visa-free stay from 15 days to 30 days.   illustration photo source internet The ministry made the proposal for the benefit of German, UK, Dutch, Spanish and Italian passport holders as suggested by tour operators at a conference recently held by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) to discuss a program to promote Vietnam’s tourism in Europe. Tran Thi Viet Huong, director of marketing at Vietravel, said the visa exemption for travelers from the five European countries should be lengthened as travel companies need a longer time to promote their products effectively. Therefore, it is necessary to extend the period of visa exemption to five years. Huong said the 15-day visa-free stay is not suitable for Western European travelers because their vacations are long, ranging from 21 to 30 days or even longer. Luong Hoai Nam, general director of Hai Au Aviation Joint Stock Company, said the Government’s unclear roadmap to exempt Europeans from entry visa would make it difficult to promote Vietnam as a tourist destination. At an international tourism fair held in German capital Berlin last March, domestic travel firms could not answer customers’ queries about whether or not Vietnam would continue visa exemptions for the five European countries after the scheme expires on June 30 this year. Western European tourists usually map out their travel plans long before their departures. Vietnam’s tourism revenues might be affected in the long term if such queries go unanswered, Nam said. According to VNAT, Vietnam attracted 790,000 international visitors in April alone, up 11.9% year-on-year. The number in the first four months amounted to 3.25 million, rising by 17.8% over the same period of 2015. VNAT said the visa waiver helped bring in more than 554,000 visitors from the five Western European countries from July 2015 to March, up nearly 14% year-on-year. Data of the General Statistics Office showed the number of visitors from these five countries neared 300,000 in January-April, accounting for 9% of the total international arrivals in Vietnam in the period. Last year’s figure was over 635,000. Travel firms said owing to the visa exemption policy, the number of tourists from the five countries increased last year and this year, while arrivals from other European countries have dropped. A tourism competitiveness report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2015 indicated that Vietnam’s tourism ranked 75th out of 141 nations. The country stood at 119th in terms of visa requirements. Meanwhile, regional countries have simplified visa requirements to woo foreign tourists. To realize the target of welcoming 20 million international visitors in 2019, Indonesia has exempted visas for citizens from 79 more countries and territories since March, bringing the total to 169.  SGT