Dear Travel Partners,

We are pleased to bring you the following news updates for Vietnam...

Vietnam continues to waive visas for 7 countries: Danish, Finnish, Japanese, Norwegian, Russian, South Korean, and Swedish nationals.

Rejecting a proposal by the foreign affairs ministry, the government has forged ahead with the visa waiver for single-entry visits of up to 15 days for Danish, Finnish, Japanese, Norwegian, Russian, South Korean, and Swedish nationals.

In April 2013, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wanted to scrap the visa waiver for those seven countries. It slammed the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism for failing to take advantage of the policy to promote tourism, saying that the policy costs state coffers $50 million annually.

The dispute was only settled when two deputy prime ministers stepped in, and asked the foreign affairs and tourism ministries to continue offering visa waivers for tourists from those countries. The waiver will take effect January 1, 2015 and lasts for five years.

Vietnam's seaplane firm Hai Au Aviation expands wings to Mui Ne/Phan Thiet

Tourists from Ho Chi Minh City to the popular south central resort town of Phan Thiet will this month have another option: seaplane.

Hai Au Aviation Company, which introduced the service in Vietnam, launched its HCMC-Phan Thiet tour on Saturday 3rd January with two seaplanes. The debut trip was a charter one carrying 14 Russian tourists, which took off at Tan Son Nhat International Airport and landed at Bau Trang resort in Binh Thuan Province at around 12:30pm.

Tickets for seaplane trips HCMC-Mui Ne with Hai Au are expected to go on sale from January 10th 2015.  Hai Au also plans to roll out seaplane tours from HCMC to Nha Trang and the Mekong Delta's hub of Can Tho City later in January.

Facts about the seaplanes:

• The planes are made by a US-based company called Cessna
• The seaplanes travel at around 300km per hour
• They can land or take off on a runway or on water
• Each seaplane can carry a maximum of 12 people 

HCMC firms shocked by sudden wharf closure

Ten transport and tourism companies operating out of Bach Dang wharf in HCMC's central District 1 have expressed shock at a sudden announcement by the Transport Department that the wharf will be closed down on January 15.

The Transport and Tourism companies are very shocked and concerned as, over the last 20 years, they have invested a huge amount in river tourism, served millions of tourists every year and provided hundreds of jobs; Bach Dang tourism park and wharf has nine floating restaurants and tourism bats along with 40 other vessels, including hydrofoils that carry passengers to Vung Tau.

There has been no official notification of the closure yet, but those effected hope the city will arrange another wharf for them to continue their business, should the Bach Dang wharf be closed.