Vietnam is to ease the regulations of visa after the pressure from representative bodies and the airline operators.
The prime minister of Vietnam Nguyen Tan Dung has agreed to the latest rules on the applications of visa from the selected destinations such as Australasian and European.
Presently, the passengers arriving have to apply for the visas before travelling and this will be changed to short period, visa-free travel for the coming twelve months for those arriving from Australia, UK, Germany, Spain, New Zealand, Belarus and Canada.
Nguyen Anh Tuan, National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) CEO, stated that the tourists from the selected countries will be given a stay of fifteen days over a period of five years.
The local carriers who are growing like IATA have long pressed for easing the requirements of visa for entering into the country. Tony Tyler, CEO IATA stated recently about the opportunities which were lost from the nation because of the system of visa.
In addition, he also stated that every tourist who has decided to go for a vacation in the neighboring country because of the visa process of Vietnam is an economic opportunity which is lost.
Visa-free travel is offered by Vietnam to the passengers only from Nordic countries, Korea, Japan, Russia, South Korea and Asian member nations.
The aviation industry has contributed $6 billion to the GDP of Vietnam in the year 2013 with the revenues growing by 96% in the past five years according to the IATA.
