The article highlighted that more and more countries are deciding to waive visa requirements to encourage travelers to choose them as destinations for their getaway. For authorities, it is a way to boost tourism, while for vacationers, it is a way to save time, money and hassle.
The traditional pho, floating markets in the Mekong Delta, mountainous town of Sa Pa and imperial capital of Hue helped Vietnam lure some 12.6 million visitors from all over the world last year, far from its goal of 8 million travelers.
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The ancient imperial capital of Hue is a renowned tourist destination in Vietnam. (Photo for illustration) |
Most of the tourists came from the Republic of Korea, China, China’s Taiwan and Japan.
The result was spurred by Vietnam’s extension of its electronic visa system, making the process much simpler for visitors, and above all, providing authorization to enter the country for 90 days as compared with 30 previously.
At the same time, Vietnam extended its visa waiver to 13 countries, allowing their nationals to stay in the country up to 45 days as compared with 15 previously without applying an entry document. These include Germany, the Republic of Korea, France, the UK, Italy and Spain. In the last quarter of 2023, the number of tourists from the countries surged 90% for Spain, 68% for Italy, 48.6% for the UK and 52% for France.
The writing said visa exemption is a policy to stimulate economic growth in the countries concerned. In addition, it is a motive for visitors to make future travel plans.
Source: VNA