New visa policy proposal sent to National Assembly
HCMC – The Government has officially written to the National Assembly proposing a new policy for changing
From August 15, Vietnam will exempt electronic visas (e-visas) for all countries/territories, increasing the duration from 30 to 90 days and increasing the duration of unilateral visa-free stays from 15 to 45 days.
At the Conference to disseminate new documents to accelerate the recovery and accelerate effective and sustainable development of Vietnam's tourism on August 15, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Doan Van Viet assessed that Vietnam's tourism is facing strong development opportunities in promoting international tourist attraction, especially long-term tourism programs.
Keeping guests staying longer takes work.
Mr. Vu Van Tuyen, CEO of Travelogy Vietnam, expressed his enthusiasm when the government announced two new resolutions on visa policy and predicted that tourism in Vietnam would experience an increase in tourists.
He said that 5 months ago, the company started to prepare 17 new products to attract international visitors to Vietnam, staying for many days. Visitors will remain between 30 and 45 days rather than the previous 2-3 weeks. He anticipates a substantial recovery in visitor numbers starting in the third or fourth quarter of 2023, which is a very optimistic indicator.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hai - Director of La Palanche Voyagas tourism company (Hanoi) - a unit specializing in welcoming French tourists, also said that this is a key market; visitors spend about 100 USD / day, although visa-free but previously stayed for 15 days, what a pity. Increase the temporary stay to 45 days; guests will stay longer and spend more.
This is anticipated, but it's also what Mr. Vu Van Tuyen is most concerned about.
He explained businesses are facing three difficulties:
- There needs to be an overall strategy for marketing and promoting Vietnam's tourism, from which companies can follow up to launch and sell tourism products.
- We always say that Vietnam has a lot of potential for tourism development, but we still need help getting guests to stay for 1 or 2 months and return more.
- Tourism products in all provinces and cities, even the night market, are similar.
According to him, Vietnam has more than 20 well-known night markets, but none of them is truly famous or as popular as night markets abroad.
Vietnam is also an extremely important transit point for Asian and European tourists to Indochina, Thailand, China, etc. Mr. Tuyen said that we have 7 tourist destinations; previously, due to the short time, it took a lot of work for visitors to travel to the two provinces of the South and North to participate in tours to the Northeast, Northwest, the highlands and vice versa. Therefore, combining these 7 routes in a full 1-month or 45-day customer journey is necessary.
The difficulty for enterprises is combining regional products because the journey price will be high; moreover, the tourism supply chain needs to be linked, and local products are also fragmented.
Vietnamese goods need more distinction, standout features, and a clear representation of the region's qualities, which makes purchasers feel unsatisfied and unworthy of their purchases. As a result, he underlined that developing products with a localized focus is essential.
Regarding the unilateral visa exemption for 13 countries, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hai felt regretful because, among European countries, the number of visitors from Belarus is very small on the list, while there are no important markets such as Switzerland, Belgium, Luxemburg, ... are rich countries, spending a lot. They don't care about visas, but they value the policy, so they can go immediately without worrying about anything.
The weakest point is promotion
According to travel companies, for the world to know more about Vietnam's tourism, especially important policy changes, such as those related to visas, it is necessary to soon inform and promote them to other countries. However, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hai commented this is the weakest stage of Vietnam's tourism.
Mr. Vu Van Tuyen said we have many resources to promote, but the strategy is general and not unique. For example, this year, the tourism industry is determined to focus on the European market, but Europe has 25-27 countries; it is necessary to identify each market with specific tastes, thereby having its way of communication.
Participating in booths at fairs, leading a comparative travel company, and pavilions from countries around us, such as Thailand, China, India, etc., are monumental and eye-catching; Vietnam's stall is very small. Instead of free, the amount of money collected from the visa brings 25 USD / person; only 1/3 of that place is enough to promote and promote, especially when participating in international fairs.
There is a lot of work to be done, from building products to meeting the needs of tourists to attract visitors and improve the competitiveness of Vietnam's tourism, said the Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh. Long-term vacation guests, high paying for promotion work. Especially when Vietnam has open policies on entry procedures, the demand for information search and traveling to Vietnam increases sharply.
The Vietnam Tourism Marketing Strategy 2030 was published by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism about promotion. The Tourism Development Support Fund was also established, initially meeting the promotion and advertising requirements in Vietnam. National as well as product development, supporting this work in the localities.
However, there should be cooperation between state management agencies, localities and enterprises in the long run. Since then, there have been organized professional promotion programs, bringing higher efficiency.
Also read: Hot: Vietnam issues e-visas to citizens of all countries
