Foreign visitors to Ben Thanh Market in HCM City (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) - The HCM City People’sCommittee wants the Government to extend the visa waiver period for touristsfrom key foreign markets to increase the country’s tourism competitiveness andattract more visitors.
It has proposed that the Government should extend thevisa-free stay to 21 days or 30 days from the current 15 for travellers fromcountries like Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Denmark, the Republic of Korea,Germany, the UK, France, Italy, and Spain so that they would have enough timeto tour the country.
At present, nationals of 22 countries and territories do notrequire a visa to enter the country.
HCM City also suggested waiving visas for tourists from fivewestern European countries – the UK, France, German, Italy, and Spain – forfive years at a time instead of one year and for tourists from the visa-waivercountries re-entering Vietnam within 30 days of their last exit.
The number of tourists from the five western Europeancountries has been increasing at 14 percent a year since the visa-free policytook effect two years ago.
Half of all foreign visitors coming to Vietnam visit HCM City.
Last year the city received more than 6.38 million visitors,a year-on-year increase of 22.8 percent.
Its tourism revenues rose 12.6 percent to 116 trillion VND (5.1billion USD), accounting for a fourth of the entire country’s tourism earnings.
HCM City targets 7.5 million foreign visitorsthis year. -VNA
VNA
