By Dao Loan - The Saigon Times Daily
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| A foreigner goes through immigration in Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC - Photo: Dao Loan |
HCMC – The tourism sector will request visa fee exemptions for international visitors to Vietnam this year to prop up travel as part of the Impressive Vietnam Grand Sale 2010 program.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said the program would take place between August and September, or September and October this year. They added that visa fee exemptions would make Vietnam more attractive to potential tourists. 
The fee to enter Vietnam is US$25 per tourist, or higher if the visitor goes through an agent. The Government allowed similar exemptions last May at the request of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The exemption was valid for foreigners who entered Vietnam on a package tour. They received the incentive after registering with the Impressive Vietnam campaign. However, the exemptions finished on December 31 when the campaign ended.
Ung Phuong Dung, director of Indochina Service Vietnam, said visitors were very pleased with Impressive Vietnam. During the exemption period, she said, the travel firm received more international visitors than usual.
“Many guests didn’t know about the program and were surprised when we made procedures for them to travel without visa fees,” Dung said.
Tourism has picked up in the country recently. VNAT estimated that more than 446,000 foreign tourists visited Vietnam this month, a 30.2% increase from a year ago, and up 3.5% compared to this January.
It is expected visitors from the U.S, China and Japan will increase this month. Chinese tourists are expected to reach 69,360 this month, a 66.6% rise year-on-year, while 48,300 Americans will visit Vietnam, up 21.5%. In addition, the VNAT has forecast that nearly 44,300 South Koreans and 37,000 Japanese tourists will travel to the country too, up 12.8% and 5.9% respectively.