Fee increases make travel firms worried to death VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Finance’s decision to raise the fees and charges on travelers has made travel firms worried stiff. They fear that the higher fees would keep travelers away. The ministry’s Circular No. 190 stipulates that from January 1, 2013, the visa granting fee would be nearly double the previous level. Travelers would have to pay US$80 to obtain the visa with the validity of up to one year, $100 for the visa to be valid for 1-2 years, and $120 for 2-3 year visa. The above said visa granting visas would certainly put a heavier burden on the enterprises which hire foreign workers, because they would have to pay additional money on the visas for expat workers. The regulation may help encourage Vietnamese enterprises to employ Vietnamese workers instead of expats. However, in fact, despite the increasingly high costs for foreign workers, a lot of companies still have to hire foreigners, because Vietnamese workers still cannot undertake the jobs in some business fields. However, more worryingly, the visa granting fee increase is believed to lead to the sharp fall of the number of foreign travelers to Vietnam, which would lead to the decline of the “non-smoke” industry. Nguyen Thi Kim Lan, Director of Xuyen A (Trans Asia) Trade and Tourism Company, has noted that it is now not the right time for Vietnam to increase fees and charges, because this would worsen the current difficult situation. “In the economic downturn, travelers have to reconsider their travel plans. And they may cut the plans to travel to Vietnam, if the estimated expenditure gets higher,” Lan said on Dau tu. The problem lies in the fact that while Vietnam tries to raise fees and charges, thus leading to higher tour fees, its neighboring countries still can keep the tour fees unchanged, even though they also suffer the global economic crisis like Vietnam. “South East Asian countries like Thailand and Singapore can offer tours at the prices much lower than that of Vietnam. Meanwhile, they have also removed the visa requirements,” Lan said. “If Vietnam increases fees and charges, this would make the tours to Vietnam less competitive, and travelers would flock to other South East Asian countries instead of Vietnam,” she has warned. Ly Viet Cuong, Director of Nam Phuong Tourist, also said at a recent meeting of the HCM City Tourism Association that the state management agencies should remove the decisions relating to the fee increases.  However, no official reply has been made by the management agencies. “If the management agencies insist on their decision, I can say for sure that the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam would decrease,” Cuong said. Meanwhile, Nguyen Van My, Director of Lua Viet Tour, has expressed his worry about the 50 percent increase of the passport granting fee for Vietnamese people from VND200,000 to VND300,000. Besides, excursion fees at tourist sites have also increased sharply. The ticket for Tuan Chau Island admission in Quang Ninh province, for example, has increased from VND30,000 to VND160,000. Most recently, the Ministry of Transport has suggested increasing the road tax on the vehicles going on the Highway No 1 from Hanoi to Can Tho and the Highway No. 14 to the Central Highlands by 350 percent. Thanh Nien has cited a report by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) as saying that Vietnam received 6.84 million foreign travelers in 2012. However, travel firms keep doubful about the figure, saying that the actual number is much lower. Compiled by C. V