Vietnam waives visa requirements for five European countries

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Vietnam Waives Visa Requirements for 5 European Countries – Boosting Tourism – Photograph by ‘My Vietnam’ – www.plnmedia.com

Vietnam has taken steps to boost their tourism numbers by dropping the visa requirements for five additional European countries.

A decision was reached this week by the Vietnam government that those from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain will no longer need a visa to visit the country. The visa-free service will start in July and sustain those who wish to visit the country for up to 15 days.

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Many believe the government should have extended the friendly service for up to 30 days, allowing many businesses to compete in surrounding countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia who give visa waivers for up to 30 days for such countries.

Vietnam added to the list of reciprocal visa exemptions of nine countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. They also add to the list of visa-free visitors from Russia, Belarus, Japan, South Korea and a total of four other Nordic countries.

Vietnam has shown signs it will also extend their visa-free services to a host of other countries in the coming years. Last year nearly eight million foreigners visited Vietnam, but those numbers have dropped by 13 per cent in the past six months.

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China is the number one reason for the drop as the protest of a massive oil rig parked near Paracel Islands last summer sparked a country-wide anti-China movement. Another huge drop was from Russia, seeing the economic issues of the country effect travel to other parts of the world, the decline in visits to Vietnam topped out at 16 per cent in recent months.