The Vietnamese government has green-lighted several proposals, including waiving visas for more nations, to revive the country’s troubled tourist industry.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has proposed scrapping visas for countries that are Viet Nam’s key tourism markets, or those it has strategic or comprehensive partnerships with, which has secured in-principle approval from the premier.

The countries that are likely to enjoy free-visa rules from Viet Nam are the UK, France, Germany and Spain, which have strategic partnerships with Viet Nam; and Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the Southeast Asian country’s comprehensive partners.

Foreign tourists view photos on their camera at an event in Ho Chi Minh City on January 23, 2015.

The visa waivers for the first group of countries are expected to take effect on July 1 this year, and the second group, July 1 next year.

Viet Nam currently applies one-sided free-visa rules for seven countries, including Japan, South Korea, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, and scraps visas for nine Southeast Asian countries including Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Starting next month, Viet Nam will also waive visas for tourists from Belarus, according to a resolution the government released earlier this month.

The waiver will be applied within five years, from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2020, with an allowed stay of 15 days for each entry.

Mr Nguyen Huu Tho, the Chairman of the Viet Nam Travel Association, said waiving visas for more countries is inevitable at a time when Viet Nam is struggling to compete with other regional tourism destinations.

(Source: tuoitrenews)