PM calls for simple procedures, creative products to revive tourism

The PM urged relevant agencies to make it convenient for tourists to enter, travel and stay in Vietnam, and create favorable conditions for domestic and international airlines to open new direct routes connecting Vietnam with key tourism markets.

Vietnam needs to improve the competitiveness of international tourism in terms of infrastructure, facilities, logistics costs and human resources, the PM said at a meeting on post-Covid international tourism recovery.

The PM called on the tourism industry to develop new tourism products and improve competitiveness on price and service quality.

“We need to create new products to provide tourists what they need, instead of only giving them what we are having,” he said.

Policies to encourage tourism development, including visa and tax issues will be considered to boost tourism recovery, he added.

The PM called on the tourism industry to pay attention to tourism promotion campaigns and mobilize all resources to develop tourism infrastructure.

Vietnam was one of the first Southeast Asian countries to reopen to international tourism on March 15 after the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, it is lagging far behind several Southeast Asian neighbors in tourism recovery, with Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia already achieving their targets.

Foreign tourist numbers to Vietnam are expected to reach only 3.5 million this year, around 70% of the target of five million.

At the meeting, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung proposed that the government consider granting e-visas to all countries and territories, instead of the current 80, to boost foreign tourist numbers.

Hung urged the government to extend visa-free stays for foreign tourists to 30 days and to grant visa-on-arrival.