Russian can stay longer

HANOI, 30 July 2014: Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism asked the Prime Minister, last week, to extend visa exemption from 15 days to 30 days for Russian visitors.
The move aims to facilitate Russian tourists’ travelling to Vietnam and lengthen the average stay.
Earlier, the government awarded visa exemption privileges to citizens from seven countries for up to 15 days. They were Japan, South Korea (in 2004), Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden (in 2005) and Russia (in 2009).
Citizens of nine ASEAN countries get a 30 day stay in Vietnam.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in 2013 1.65 million Russians, Koreans and Japanese visited Vietnam and spent USD2.55 billion.
From 2009 to 2013, Russian arrivals to Vietnam posted an annual growth rate of 58.53%. In the first half of this year, Vietnam welcomed 194,000 Russians, up 25.9% over the same period last year.

Sourced: ttrweekly