PM chairs national conference on tourism recovery

In his opening speech, Chinh emphasised that a change in mindset is needed for the entire tourism industry in the context that the world is witnessing a range of complicated and unpredictable developments.

He underlined the importance of taking full advantage of opportunities and overcoming challenges for the tourism industry’s sustainable development moving forward.

According to the PM, despite global uncertainties, the local tourism industry has recorded positive signs since the beginning of the year, receiving approximately 10 million international tourists and 99 million domestic visitors.

However, the number of international visitors only reached roughly 70% of the pre-pandemic level in 2019, he said.

In order to achieve the goal of turning tourism into a spearhead economic industry, as well as welcoming at least 35 million foreign arrivals by 2025 and 50 million by 2030, the tourism industry is required to change its mindset by enhancing smooth co-ordination among travel firms and relevant agencies, reminded the government leader.

The PM called for breakthrough solutions by researchers and experts to be implemented as a way of removing hurdles to develop the tourism industry sustainably. He also underlined the need to fine-tune policies and mobilise all resources to develop tourism infrastructure, train human resources to meet development requirements, and improve the management capacity for travel firms.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said inefficiencies relating to visas continue to create bottlenecks for the tourism industry.

At present, although Vietnam has issued e-visas to citizens of 257 countries and territories, the procedures related to visa approval remain slow and still take a lot of time.

Moreover, the number of countries eligible for Vietnamese visa exemption remains limited compared to regional peers.

For example, Indonesia exempts visas for citizens of about 169 countries and territories, while the Philippines grants visa exemption for citizens of about 166 countries and territories. The figure is 156 for Malaysia, 150 for Singapore, 60 for Thailand, and 54 for Brunei

Experts proposed measures to shorten the time to process visa applications for tourist groups as a way of supporting travel businesses to welcome additional large international tourist delegations to Vietnam in the coming months.