Vietnam is about to allow visa-free entry for Indian tourists in an effort to boost tourism and its economy.
Vietnam’s Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, Nguyen Van Jung, has advocated for short-term visa exemptions for countries such as China and India to boost the recovery of the country’s tourism sector, according to VnExpress.
However, Vietnam is not the only country to take such a measure, as Sri Lanka and Thailand have only recently provided visa-free stay for Indians, VisaGuide.World reports.
We will provide visa-free entry to India and Taiwan because a lot of their people like to travel to Thailand.
Local media also reported that the authorities of the Sri Lanka tourism ministry have expressed their expectations to boost tourist arrivals to five million in the upcoming years with the liberalisation of visas.
Vietnam Facilitating Visas for More Countries in a Bid to Boost Tourism
Last week, during a conference, the Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh proposed waivers for visitors from wealthy countries like Australia, Canada, the United States, and the remaining 20 EU member states, the citizens of which still need a visa to enter Vietnam.
In a bid to attract more tourists to the country, the Vietnamese government has taken other measures, such as granting e-visas up to 90 days for all countries.
Furthermore, Vietnam has prolonged the visa exemption duration from 15 to 45 days for tourists from unilaterally exempted countries, such as South Korea, Japan, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, Belarus, Germany, the UK, Spain and Italy.
The country already offers visa-free stay for short periods for individuals that belong to any of the following countries: Belarus, Brunei, Cambodia, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Norway, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
The period of visa-free stay is not the same for all countries, but it varies from 14 up to 90 days, depending on the country.
Country Struggling to Revive Prepandemic Tourism Levels
In 2023, about 8.9 million international visitors visited Vietnam, and most of them were from South Korea, Taiwan, America and Japan, according to the same source.
Meanwhile, in 2022, Vietnam welcomed fewer foreign visitors – about 3.7 million. According to data provided by Statista, the majority of them were nationals of South Korea, followed by America, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Japan and Malaysia.
In 2019, the year before COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 18 million international travelers visited Vietnam, and spent about $30 billion.