Vietnam considers risky decision to remove visa exemption and raise visa fees

Vu The Binh, chairman of the Vietnam Travel Association, said on Tuesday that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism was collecting comments on whether to stop visa exemption to tourists from seven countries, including South Korea, Japan, Russia and four countries in northern Europe.

If such a move goes as planned, Vietnam’s tourism will be adversely affected…The visa exemption policy, according to Binh, needs to be maintained as it contributes to Vietnam’s high tourism growth, and so does the current visa fee.

One million tourists from Japan and South Korea have come to Vietnam this year, and the number of Russian tourists has also increased strongly, so the removal of visa exemption may lead tourists from these countries to rethink their plans to visit Vietnam.