Vietnam stimulates tourism by opening electronic visa applications for all countries including Taiwan starting from 8/15

The Vietnamese government issued an announcement tonight stating that citizens from all countries and regions will be able to apply for and issue electronic visas starting from August 15. In the future, Taiwanese tourists traveling to Vietnam can directly apply for electronic visas, which is expected to save a lot of money.

In order to revitalize tourism, Vietnam began to study and amend laws and regulations at the end of last year (2022) to facilitate inbound tourism for international tourists. Finally, on June 24 this year, it passed the amendment to the law, adding a number of new countries and regions to apply for electronic visas, and made electronic visas applicable. The validity period will be extended from 30 days to 90 days, and it can be entered and exited multiple times.

The Vietnamese government electronic platform announced tonight that according to the government announcement, electronic visas will be issued to citizens of all countries and regions starting from August 15. As a result, travelers from all countries and regions, including Taiwan, can apply for electronic visas.

On June 24, the Vietnamese National Assembly passed amendments and supplements to the "Law on the Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam" and other legal provisions, which will come into effect on August 15. For Taiwan, the most important thing about this revision of the law is whether Vietnam will include Taiwan in the list of applicants for electronic visas.

Before Taiwan was opened to apply for electronic visas, tourists traveling to Vietnam had to entrust a travel agency to apply for an entry permit before applying for a visa. However, the entry permit processing fee was driven up by the market. Some people paid more than 200 US dollars for this, and there were widespread complaints among the people. Reduce the willingness of Taiwanese tourists to travel to Vietnam.

Official statistics from Vietnam show that a total of 6.6 million international tourists visited Vietnam in the first seven months of this year, reaching 83% of the annual target of 8 million tourists. Even though the target achievement rate seems good, it is still far from the 18 million passengers in the whole of 2019 before the COVID-19 epidemic.

After Vietnam’s new visa regulations are put into effect, if they can be truly implemented, it is expected to revitalize Vietnam’s international tourism market. The number of Taiwanese people visiting Vietnam for tourism and investment inspections should also increase. Statistics show that Taiwan was Vietnam’s fourth largest source of tourists before the COVID-19 epidemic.

Editor-in-Chief: Yu Weining (Yahoo News)