Vietnam rolls out the red carpet for elites with 'golden visa'

From August 15, international tourists from six special groups will find it easier than ever to visit Vietnam thanks to the new visa exemption policy.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Mr. Jensen Huang join in the "breath" of Hanoi at night in the Old Quarter - Photo: DOAN BAC

The new policy promises to boost the tourism industry, especially in developing high-end tourism, promoting the country's image to the world .

Promote high-end, rich tourism

With a "golden card" valid for 5 years, allowing multiple entries, Vietnam is opening its doors to welcome investors, experts, scholars, artists, athletes and influential people globally.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre, Dr. Pham Ha - CEO of Lux Group - said that the special visa policy (golden visa) has been implemented by countries in the region very early, considering this a condition to promote investment attraction, settlement, and even a "second home" program.

Although Vietnam is a latecomer, it has many opportunities and potentials to attract elite visitors to invest or relax. According to this policy, many beneficiary classes such as technology, the rich or experts will enter Vietnam more easily.

According to Mr. Ha, wealthy and luxurious tourists are divided into groups: powerful, influential, and rich. They travel more often and travel with groups of people of the same class. The special visa policy will give them more options to come to Vietnam.

"For businesses, this policy is a very good signal to communicate to their target audiences, with Lux Group being luxury guests who benefit from the new visa policy issued by the Government," he said.
Ha said.

Ms. Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh, Marketing Director of Vietravel Tourism Company, commented that this policy opens up great opportunities in designing high-end, personalized tourism products and products for the upper class.

Priority customers have high frequency of entry and exit, possess superior service needs and strong financial potential. This is an ideal segment to develop product lines such as unique cultural experiences, Silk Road - luxury travel, resort travel, golf travel and health care.

Coupled with long stays (up to 90 days at a time and renewable), travel businesses have the flexibility to build long-term, VIP itineraries - creating a clear advantage in international competition.

As one of the destinations in Vietnam that has attracted many billionaires and millionaires in the world such as billionaire Joe Lewis (owner of Tottenham Hotspur Club), billionaire of the large Indian pharmaceutical corporation Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited..., high-class customers are the target group that Quang Ninh is aiming for.

According to Mr. Nguyen Lam Nguyen, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Ninh province, the locality determined that attracting super-rich visitors not only brings revenue, but also creates motivation to lead the market and position the brand of Ha Long Bay in particular and the whole province in general.

In addition to high-class, unique and distinctive products according to the requirements of this customer segment, the special visa policy is also a favorable factor that contributes significantly to promoting the attraction of this high-spending customer segment.

Movenpick Living West Hanoi Hotel welcomed nearly 300 guests from the Indian billionaire's group of 4,500 employees. In recent years, many Indian "rich people" have come to Vietnam to organize "super weddings" - Photo: THANH DONG

Consider expanding visa exemption

Over the past three years, Vietnam has consistently been the destination chosen by the elite for vacations or important events. From lavish weddings of Indian billionaires to outings by global technology giants such as Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of social network Facebook), Lee Jae-yong (Chairman of Samsung Group), Jensen Huang (CEO of chip company Nvidia), Tim Cook (CEO of Apple)...

According to Dr. Pham Ha, Vietnam is an emerging destination in attracting high-end customers, and the name Vietnam is mentioned in many famous global magazines.

Vietnam has all the strengths to attract this type of customer such as long, beautiful beaches, beautiful nature, rich and diverse cuisine, unique culture... these are things that luxury customers really like.

In particular, this type of customer likes "tailored" services on demand, we can completely build many unique, classy experiences on existing strengths.

Tourism services in Vietnam have changed a lot from service infrastructure (ports, airports, connecting roads) to world-class resorts. It is necessary to think "customer-centric" to find solutions, understand what customers need and want.

"One of the groups of customers we should target is retirees, who have nothing but money and time. Vietnam has beautiful beaches, warm sunshine, hot springs, good health care services, there is no reason not to invite them to Vietnam to spend money.

I believe that the number of wealthy and elite customers in the technology industry will increase in Vietnam in the coming time. However, on the business side, we hope that the visa policy will be further expanded because the number of luxury customers only accounts for 3% of the total number of customers and those who enjoy special visa policies only account for an extremely small proportion," Mr. Ha commented.

Mr. Ha proposed that the special visa policy should extend the stay to 10 years. In addition, if it only stops at leaders of enterprises in the top 100 leaders of enterprises with the largest capitalization in the world or the top 100 football stars, they may not come to Vietnam.

We should target people such as business owners with large investments in Vietnam, leaders of million-dollar businesses, and retirees.

In Vietnam, many subjects can consider expanding the special visa policy: first, retired elderly people; second, people who have business investments in Vietnam and stay and travel many times (business travelers); third, leaders of large corporations and enterprises; rich people in target markets; people who have lived in Vietnam for many years.

On August 8, the Government issued Decree No. 221/2025/ND-CP regulating temporary visa exemption for foreigners who are in special need of incentives to serve socio-economic development.

Opportunity to reposition national tourism brand

An Indian wedding with many solemn and grand ceremonies at a 5-star resort in Da Nang, Vietnam - Photo: TT

In Southeast Asia, the golden visa policy has been implemented by many countries. Of which, Singapore is leading with the "Global Investment Program" (GIP) implemented since 2004. Indonesia started testing the "golden visa" program in 2023 and officially implemented it in 2024 after the testing phase.

Malaysia has also been successful with its "Malaysia - My Second Home" (MM2H) program since 2002 for retirees and investors with a 5-20 year visa term and shifted its focus to young investors from June 2024.

In 2022, Cambodia launched the "Cambodia - My Second Home" program with 10-year visas for foreign investors with a minimum capital of 100,000 USD. Thailand currently has the "Thai Privilege Visa" valid for 5-20 years.

According to Mr. Pham Ha, Vietnam tourism is developing well but this industry needs a more systematic strategy, marketing campaign and promotion.

If we want to target high-paying customers, we need to have positioning policies on brand, image, experience, people, understand their preferences and desires, and have a friendly visa policy like we are doing. The media must target potential audiences to "hit" correctly and accurately.

Vietnam needs a fundamental change to reposition ourselves as a "tourism nation", different from all other countries in the region.

Mr. Bui Thanh Tu, communications director of BestPrice, said that instead of counting the number of visitors as it is now, Vietnamese tourism needs to aim for the target of visitor revenue.

To reposition a brand, the most important thing is communication and promotion.

"We have luxurious, classy services and friendly visa policies, but if potential customers do not know about them, tourism cannot change. Where high-end customers are, we need to promote them there," said Mr. Tu.

NGUYEN HIEN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/viet-nam-trai-tham-do-don-gioi-tinh-hoa-voi-visa-vang-2025080922502548.htm