Visa issues hamper Vietnam’s recovery tourism progress

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Despite being one of the first South East Asian countries to have opened its borders for travel after the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam has scored the lowest recovery in tourism as compared to its neighbouring countries. The reason behind this, as per Chris Farwell from Tourism Advisory Board, is visa issues.

Countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia have reached a recovery rate in tourism sector between 31 and 26 percent while Vietnam’s recovery rate is only 18.1 percent, as reported by VisaGuide.World.

While its target for the year was five million this year, Vietnam is expected to receive 3.5 million international visitors. Farwell said lifting visa requirements for most countries as well as prolong visitors’ visa-free stays to 30 and 45 days will help boost the recovery of tourism in Vietnam.

Vietnam is considerably less open to its neighbours, considering the fact that travellers from only 24 countries can visit this Southeast Asia country while travellers from 65 countries can visit Thailand. Tourism Advisory Board, member, Luong Hoai Nam, noted suggesting that Vietnam should follow Thailand’s example.

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