Indonesia, Vietnam to relax visa requirements and fees

Bangkok and beyond, travel talk on all other places in Thailand and Southeast Asia.
SPONSORS: Bang Saphan Guide
Post Reply
User avatar
buksida
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22525
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2002 12:25 pm
Location: south of sanity

Indonesia, Vietnam to relax visa requirements and fees

Post by buksida »

Indonesia waives visa requirements for 30 countries
The Indonesian government said Friday it has officially waived visa requirements for tourists from 30 more countries, allowing them to stay in the country visa-free for up to 30 days.

In a statement, the cabinet secretariat said President Joko Widodo signed a presidential regulation on the visa exemptions Tuesday and the visa-free policy came into effect on Wednesday.

According to the regulation, the policy was made based on "reciprocal and beneficial basis."

The newly added countries are Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Britain, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirate and the United States.

They joined 15 other countries, including Indonesia's nine fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, that had been earlier exempted from visa requirements.

Indonesia aims to increase the number of foreign tourists through the visa-free policy to 11 million this year from 9.44 million last year.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/59 ... -countries

Vietnam extends visa free list
The Vietnamese government has given the green light to several proposals, including waiving visas for more nations, to revive the country’s troubled tourism industry.

Travel arrivals have been in decline since 2014 and while there are signs of recovery in specific markets, the trend worries tourism executives who claim the government is not doing enough to streamline entry procedures.

Tuoi Tre News reported that the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism have repeatedly called on the government to enact measures to ‘save’ the tourism industry, which has reported declining tourist arrival numbers for 12 months in a row, since May 2014.

Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dun,g approved some proposals from the two agencies during a government meeting, late last month, raising hopes that Vietnam would reverse the negative trend.

http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2015/06/v ... nt-page-1/

Viet Nam mulls reducing visa fees for foreigners

Viet Nam plans to reduce visa fees for foreigners entering the country, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Vinh Ai said.

He made the announcement after a tourism working group meeting at the mid-term Viet Nam Business Forum 2015 said visa fees for Viet Nam were too high, hindering tourists from visiting the country.

Competent Vietnamese agencies would simplify the visa procedures at the airport and for online visas, he said.

The government has asked relevant ministries to study the possibility of reducing visa fees.

The Prime Minister has authorised the culture, sports and tourism ministry to coordinate with the foreign affairs and public security ministries in submitting a list of countries that enjoy unilateral visa exemption soon.

http://vietnamnews.vn/society/271554/vi ... gners.html
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
Post Reply