Vietnam visa waiver program extended for citizens of 08 countries

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has extended its visa waiver program for citizens of 08 countries. As per the extension of visa wavier program by Vietnam, citizens of Russia, Belarus, Japan, Finland, South Korea, Sweden, Norway and Denmark are eligible for visa free travel to Vietnam until 31st December 2022.

The program was introduced in 2015, and would have expired at the end of December 2019. It is anticipated that the move will support the already blooming Vietnamese travel industry

Is Vietnam visa wavier program a success?

Definitely. By introducing visa free travel policy, the Vietnamese government has been successful in luring more tourists to Vietnam, especially from South Korea, Japan and Russia.

In 2018, citizens of South Korea, Japan and Russia alone accounted for one third of overall tourists that travelled to Vietnam.

South Korea stood second in list of largest market for tourist arrivals to Vietnam, just loosing the top spot to China. Approximately 3.5 million South Korean tourists travelled to Vietnam in 2018 which in turn was 22 percent of overall foreign arrivals in Vietnam. In terms of growth in tourist numbers, South Korea achieved increase of around 44 percent from the previous year, which was most for any country.

Just after South Korea, Japan grabbed the third spot in list of highest number of tourists from a particular country to Vietnam. The country fetched around 8 million tourists in 2018 and marked a growth of 3.6 percent from previous year.

Number of tourists from Russia also grew by 5.7 percent from previous year and crossed 6 million mark for the first time in 2018.

Like 2018, figures from 2019 have been promising as well. From January till November 2019, 16.3 million foreign tourists have already visited Vietnam, an increase of 15.3 percent over the same period last year. Once again South Korea, Japan and Russia stood as major markets, as more then 36 percent tourists belonged to these three countries.

The remaining countries considered under Vietnam visa wavier program extension, are from Europe and can be looked as emerging tourists market for Vietnam. A major reason to tap these markets is higher expending tendency of tourists from these countries. The argument is justified as VNAT data suggests that average spending of tourists from these European countries is more then 1,300 USD, where as the same is 900 USD for overall tourists arriving to Vietnam.

The limits of Visa free travel to Vietnam

Eligible Tourists, who are looking for a visa fee travel to Vietnam should hold a valid passport and can only stay for maximum of 15 days in Vietnam. In case of staying beyond 15 days, travellers are required to apply for either E-Visa or Visa on Arrival.

A E-visa allows a traveller to stay in Vietnam for 30 days, but is a single entry option. To obtain an E-visa, one needs to go to E-visa portal of the Vietnam government and follow the required steps.

An alternative to E-visa is opting for Visa on Arrival which provides 30 or 90 days of stay with single and multiple entry options. In case, a traveller needs to get visa in shorter time, visa on arrival is the right choice as authorized agencies such as Vietnamvisavoa can arrange for Visa on Arrival for Vietnam in 4 hours.