New Visa Policies to Draw Increasing Numbers of Chinese Tourists to Vietnam

Relaxed visa policies to be introduced at the beginning of next year should mean that Vietnam will see a boost in numbers of Chinese tourist arrivals in 2017.

The new rules will allow groups of tourists from China to stay in border region Mong Cai for up to three days without a visa. However, these trips will have to be booked through an approved travel agency, who will be responsible for ensuring that visitors do not overstay their 72 hour visas.

In addition to this new visa-free policy, Chinese visitors to the rest of the country will also be able to benefit from the introduction of tourist e-visas which can be applied for online and then collected at the airport. This should further boost arrival numbers from the China, Vietnam’s largest tourist source market ahead of Japan and South Korea, whose citizens are already eligible for visa-free access to the south-east Asian country.

Vietnam welcomed almost 1.8 million Chinese visitors in 2015, and their record levels of global tourism expenditure – which totalled 229 billion USD last year  – are encouraging increasing numbers of destinations to offer more attractive tourist visa options to Chinese nationals.

Accordingly, the new policy which will allow visa free travel for Chinese citizens in the Mong Cai area, will be seen as an effective means of bringing extra investment into the region. Furthermore, it may also encourage tourism dispersal at a time when many famous tourist sites are being overwhelmed by rapidly growing numbers of international visitors.

COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute provides expert insights into the worldwide developments of China’s outbound tourism market. As Chinese outbound tourists are travelling to a large range of destinations, our publications cover a number of regions, providing detailed insights and analysing visitor behaviour.

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Source: Vietnam Express, Xinhua,

Photo: flickr