The policy of visa exemption for five Western European countries has been extended. Besides, the local authority has decided to increase the validity of this policy from one to three years.

The information on Vietnam visa exemption has been confirmed by Minister and Chairman of the office of the government Mai Tien Dung at the press conference on May 3^rd.

Accordingly, the Vietnamese Prime Minister has agreed to extend visa exemption for five Western European countries to unblock bottlenecks of tourism, including the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, which could not enjoy this exemption after June 2018. Furthermore, the duration of visa exemption is increased from one to three years and comes into effect from July 1st, 2018.

In fact, 168 countries are enjoying visa exemption to Indonesia, 162 countries to Malaysia, and it is 159 countries for both the Philippines and Singapore. Even the neighboring country—Thailand—the authorities allow 57 countries to visit their country without a visa. On the other hand, all the countries are applying for the e-visa and getting visas at borders.

The group from Western European countries are ranked as the top countries for spending. According to the research, in the first year of this policy’s effectiveness (2015), there were 720,000 visitors to Vietnam. In 2016, the number of visitors from these countries increased 16%, with the turnover reaching USD 202 million.

In 2017, the number of people from Western European countries reached 1.5 million, which contributed to Vietnam tourism’s record, achieving 12.9 million foreign visitors for the first time.

According to the experts, if the visa exemption for the five countries had not been extended, Vietnam could have lost 20% of visitors from these big markets, with the loss up to hundreds of millions USD. However, the loss would not totally stop, as it could take Vietnam out of the visitors’ travel habits.