Vietnam is banking on a new visa-free scheme to bolster the number of visitors from five European countries in the next three years.
Travellers from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain can go to Vietnam and stay up to 15 days with only their passports from July 1 to the end of 2016, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
VNAT director Nguyen Van Tuan expected the new policy would draw more visitors from the five European nations to the country, the Vietnam News reported on Tuesday.
The VNTA expected the figures from the five nations will jump by 50% in the next three years, the newspaper added.
Roughly about 635,000 tourists from France, the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain visited Vietnam last year, accounting for more than a half of 1.1 million visitors from all countries from Europe, according to the VNTA statement posted on the World Tourism Organization website.
Vu The Binh, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, urged for more campaigns including cultural activities and promotion of tourist destinations from the government to attract potential visitors from the five European countries.
Vietnam received 4.7 million international tourists last year.