Breakthroughs in visa policy: catalyst for attracting international visitors

In 2025, the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism made proactive efforts to review policies and advise competent authorities on institutional reforms in order to remove bottlenecks and create favourable conditions for tourism activities. More open visa and immigration policies have become a crucial catalyst in attracting international tourists from around the world to Viet Nam.

A notable milestone was the consolidation of the State Steering Committee for Tourism under Decision No. 1532/QD-TTg dated July 15, 2025, of the Prime Minister. Together with the promulgation of the State Steering Committee for Tourism’s Operation Plan for the 2025–2026 period and its operational regulations, inter-agency coordination mechanisms were strengthened, ensuring unified direction from the central to local levels and timely resolution of cross-sectoral issues on tourism, creating an important foundation to synchronously implement solutions on tourism development in the new situation.

In addition, Official Dispatch No. 34/CD-TTg dated April 10, 2025, of the Prime Minister on boosting tourism development in support of double-digit economic growth demonstrates the high level of attention the head of government pays to the tourism industry. This timely direction and management aim to enable tourism to directly contribute to the goal of high economic growth, considering tourism as a driving force spreading to many sectors, contributing to job creation, increasing budget revenue, and promoting the national image.

Accordingly, it emphasises stimulating market demand, diversifying products, promoting digital transformation, improving the business environment, and enhancing service quality. At the same time, it requires ministries and localities to take decisive action to remove bottlenecks in procedures, infrastructure, and human resources.

The tourism sector has also consulted the Prime Minister to issue Decision No. 382/QD-TTg dated February 21, 2025, on the Plan for implementing the Tourism System Planning for the 2021–2030 period, with a vision to 2045.

The Viet Nam National Tourism Administration believes that the above decision is of significant importance in putting the Tourism System Planning into practice, transforming strategic orientation into a concrete action programme. The document clearly defines the tasks, timelines, responsibilities, and coordination mechanisms among ministries, sectors, and localities. Through this, the Government creates a unified framework to mobilise resources and develop tourism infrastructure, products, and markets.

Particularly, visa policy has continued to be a bright spot in facilitating tourism growth. The expansion of visa exemptions, increasing incentives for key markets, and the inclusion of more border gates applying e-visas have strengthened Viet Nam’s competitiveness as a destination. These policies are being used as soft levers to open doors to international tourists.

Visa exemptions and e-visa expansion help reduce costs and time, creating favourable psychology for travellers when choosing a destination. These policies are particularly significant in stimulating high-quality, long-stay, and high-spending markets, thereby creating revenue and spreading it to the aviation, accommodation, retail, and services.

At the same time, selective incentive mechanisms for specific target groups have helped attract investment, experts, and MICE travellers. This is an important step in enhancing the competitiveness of Viet Nam as a destination, reflecting a flexible, internationally integrated management mindset centred on visitors.

In parallel, administrative procedure reform has been implemented decisively. Numerous procedures in the fields of travel services, tour guiding, and accommodation have been reviewed, reduced, and simplified. The 50% reduction in appraisal fees for travel licences and tour guide cards in 2025, the reduction and simplification of various business licensing procedures, together with the official application of electricity pricing for tourism accommodation establishments equivalent to that for production facilities, have created significant momentum for enterprises to reduce costs, recover, and expand operations.

Restructuring tourism development space

Entering 2026, the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism has informed that efforts to build and complete institutional and policy frameworks will continue to be strengthened, with a focus on proposing amendments to the Tourism Law and its guiding documents to meet development requirements in the new era.

Nearly a decade after the implementation of the Law on Tourism 2017, it is clear that the law has provided an important legal foundation for managing and developing the tourism industry in a professional and transparent manner, clearly defining the rights and obligations of businesses, tourists, and management agencies. The law contributes to standardising the business of travel agencies, accommodation, tour guides, promotion activities, and destination management, thereby contributing to the strong growth of tourism in recent years.

However, the new context of digital transformation, the platform economy, green tourism, smart tourism, and the emergence of new business models has raised many issues beyond the scope of the current legal framework.

The Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism stated that amending and supplementing the law in 2026 is of urgent importance in order to establish a modern legal framework. This will help the tourism sector to enhance its competitiveness, attract investment, adapt to global trends, and truly develop into a spearhead economic sector in the new era.

At the same time, the tourism sector must redefine its strategic development framework for the new period, positioning tourism as a pillar growth driving force, contributing to successfully realising the country’s double-digit economic growth target.

In the new context, the whole sector needs to focus on a growth model based on high added value, service quality, innovation, and sustainable development. Reorientation will help clearly identify target markets, high-spending visitor segments, key products, and development space in line with regional development dynamics, while creating a basis for restructuring investment, infrastructure, human resources, and digital transformation across the sector.

In addition, the merger of provinces and cities, along with the operation of a two-tier local government model, has created broader development space for the tourism sector. Expanded administrative boundaries make it possible to form tourism regions with diverse resources, thereby facilitating the planning of destination chains, tourism corridors and thematic products. This will help reduce fragmented development and strengthen infrastructure, data connectivity, and joint promotion.

Accordingly, there is an urgent need to conduct a systematic and scientific restructuring of tourism development space in line with the new administrative boundaries. This requires the tourism sector and localities to comprehensively review the distribution of resources, visitor flows, infrastructure, and service chains, and to redefine dynamic regions, tourism corridors, destination clusters, and service centres. This is an opportunity to establish new tourism growth poles, improve the efficiency of resource exploitation, and enhance destination competitiveness.