Issuance of e-visas boosts tourism’s development

The National Web Portal on Immigration has reported about one million visits; and 96,478 foreign visitors requested and received e-visas, including 93,266 that accessed the portal and 3,212 completing the procedures through domestic agencies and organisations.

Leaders of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism welcome Richard Kenneth Wilson, the first e-visa visitor to Vietnam. (Credit: sggp.org.vn)
Leaders of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism welcome Richard Kenneth Wilson, the first e-visa visitor to Vietnam. (Credit: sggp.org.vn)

The statistics have been released by the Immigration Department, under the Ministry of Public Security, after a nine-month implementation of the Government’s Decree on granting e-visas for citizens from 40 countries on trial (since February 1, 2017). The number of e-visas issued for foreigners entering Vietnam has seen sharp month on month growth.

The above results somewhat confirmed the efficiency and pre-eminence of the policy on issuance of e-visas. Vietnam has applied e-visas later than several countries in the region; however efforts to innovate procedures towards the simplification and convenience in granting e-visas showed the country’s determination to boost administrative reform and e-government development, meeting requirements in regards to the development and international integration.

It is very easy to see the outstanding advantages from the application of e-visas, such as the enhancement to ensure security and creating compatible information platform as well as building of a transparent financial management system. In addition, the issuance has also helped visitors save time and costs as applying for visas as well as reduced negative cases in immigration management. Visitors can also feel secure because they can take initiative in buying air tickets entering Vietnam. Tourism experts noted that e-visas have become a powerful motive to attract more foreigners to visit, survey the market and seek investment and cooperation opportunities, contributing to the country’s socio-economic development, particularly the non-smoke industry.

According to statistics released by the National Administration of Tourism, Vietnam welcomed over 11.7 million international visitors in November, up 14.4% over October. This is the eighth month in this year the number of foreign tourists to the country exceeded one million. With this growth momentum, there will be nearly 13 million international visitors to Vietnam by the end of this year, a year-on-year increase of nearly 30%. Thus, Vietnam’s tourism will catch up to Indonesia's growth rate and have the opportunity to be among the top three countries in ASEAN region. The spectacular growth was thanks to the combination of many factors, including the contribution of the application of e-visas.

The Immigration Departmetn also emphasised that the programme of granting e-visas for foreigners has attracted the interest of citizens from the US and Europe which are major markets with a large number of luxury guests with long stays and high spending.

The Prime Minister has also decided to add more than six countries which are applicable for e-visas when entering Vietnam, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, India and the Netherlands. The decision will create motivation for the tourism development during the process of realising the goal of turning tourism into a spearhead economic sector. However, according to experts, over the recent time, many visitors reflect that the access to the website to apply e-visas is still slow, especially with foreign domain names. Therefore, in order to help the e-visa issuance policy be more effective, it is essential to improve the website and improve the speed of access, creating the comfort and convenience for visitors.