Visas a passport for great debate

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“In the past several years, Vietnam unilaterally experimented with visa exemptions to visitors coming from seven markets including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia and Finland. The outcome was that visitor numbers landing on Vietnam from these markets just increased slightly, but visa exemptions cast a dent in state coffers,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Thanh Son.

Some competent government agencies are reportedly considering removal of the visa exemption scheme.

“The aviation sector may be badly affected, particularly regarding the visitor numbers coming from Japan and South Korea, due to policy changes,” according to a Ministry of Transport (MoT) source.

Statistics show that flights between Vietnam, Japan and South Korea account for around 10 per cent of passenger transport volumes and 26 per cent revenue of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines. During 2004-2012, total aviation transportation outputs in these two markets each rose 2.4 times.

Meanwhile, with Russia since Vietnam unilaterally applied visa exemption to visitors from this market in 2009, Vietnam Airlines’ passengers from this market grew an average 40-60 per cent, per year in volume.

The MoT then argued continued visa exemption would bolster aviation transport between Vietnam and key markets, especially in current difficult development context.

The Ho Chi Minh City Travel Association recently sent proposals to diverse government agencies and Ho Chi Minh City authorities arguing that visa exemption has fine-tuned global development trend as it helps unblock travel barriers and cultivate visitor growth.

From the part of businesses, director Ho Van My at Mai Linh Danang Tourism branch office assumed since tourism investment development was a state priority visa exemption could help the tourism sector better competitive advantages.

HoangViet Travel Thomas Vu Quyet Thang director argued removing visa exemption would prompt visitors to choose other countries with similarities in geography and landscapes like Thailand, Singapore or Malaysia as their destinations instead of Vietnam.

Thang even proposed exempting visa to more foreign visitors outside these seven key markets. 

In fact, as the ASEAN aviation market will be unified as planned by 2015 and since Vietnam’s neighbouring countries like China, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia all exercise open policies on visas, removing visa exemption from the part of Vietnam would weaken the country’s advantages in the eye of foreign visitors.