In the past months, foreign tourists entering Vietnam have visibly increased, thanks to the implementation of the visa exemption policy for visitors from six European countries namely United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Belarus effective for 15 days from July 1, 2015 to July 30, 2016.

Government resolution on visa exemption in the country has been insufficient since it was created and it needed to be upgraded in order to meet the increasing demand in the tourism sector especially in the future. Since it took effect, the number of international visitors entering Vietnam notably rose. Italian and Spanish tourists visiting Vietnam increased to 10%. International tourists who visited Hanoi in 2015 reached 3.4 million or a 12% rise from 2014. This was also equivalent to 40% of the country’s total number of foreign visitors. In total, international visitors who arrived in Vietnam in 2014 rose to 1%.

But according to experts, while the visa exemption policy to the said European countries brought in an obvious rise in the number of international arrivals into the country, it needs to expand to include other countries like Russia, Japan, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Korea, Finland and ten ASEAN nations. Vu Dinh Tan, Deputy General Director of Plaza Hotel, believed that increasing the number of days from 15 to 30 like in other countries would entice even more foreign tourists into visiting Vietnam. It is also suggested that the policy should include potential markets that will bring in more income to the country, specifically those with large spending levels.

But then again, tourism is a very big and complex matter and the visa exemption policy is just one of very many ways to attract more people to visit Vietnam. More importantly in fact, the country needs to focus its time, effort and budget into developing its products and services in order to adequately cater to the needs of its guests.

But perhaps the visa exemption policy is turning out to be a very successful tourism strategy since other Asian countries have also followed the same technique. Singapore has approved the policy to 150 countries and territories, while Thailand has executed the same to more than 50 countries. Both countries even took advantage of the convenience and effectiveness of technology to boost tourism in each of their areas by awarding visas online.