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PHL exec: ASEAN common visa will be like 'bingo card'
Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. expressed his optimism over the possibility of a common visa for members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which he said will boost our tourism. In an interview with GMA News reporter Rida Reyes on Wednesday, Jimenez estimated that the Philippines’ tourism share will go up by 10 percent. “Dahil ‘pag ikaw may ASEAN visa, parang bingo card—ang tendency mo punuin. Kung ikaw ay galing sa Thailand at tapos ka na sa Malaysia, ‘pag tiningnan mo ‘yung card mo, Philippines naman kasi sayang naman ‘yung ASEAN visa mo. Good for all, one size fits all, ika nga,” he said. Jimenez is confident that it won’t be long before ASEAN comes up with this kind of visa, as all the ministers who attended the ASEAN Tourism Forum last week were all in favor of it. “Ang decision sa susunod na ASEAN ministers meeting is ‘Ano, sino ang ready na? Game! Bigyan na natin ng common visa ang mga bibisita,’” he said. Common visa To prepare for this, the Tourism secretary said he will be presenting the idea to President Benigno Aquino III, as well as to the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). He noted that these agencies have to adjust their rules “to make sure that the policies for foreign affairs are aligned with the rest of ASEAN countries.” According to the United Nations World Tourist Organization, the Philippines placed sixth in the ranking of ASEAN countries with top tourist arrivals from 2010 to 2011. The Philippines has been pushing for the common visa since 2008, reasoning that it will allow foreign tourists to enter and visit all countries in the ASEAN on a single visa, which would streamline tourism in the region. The concept of a common visa was first introduced in Europe with the Schengen Visa, which enables one to travel between the 25 countries around Europe for leisure, tourism, or business. According to the website immihelp.com, the Schengen agreement came about in 1985, when seven countries in Europe “signed a treaty to end internal border checkpoints and controls.” It now includes 22 state-members of the European Union (EU) and three non-EU members. Visa-free travel Filipino travelers, meanwhile, can travel visa-free to majority of the ASEAN member-countries. A list, provided by the DFA to GMA News Online on Tuesday night, showed that seven of the nine other countries in the association (excluding the Philippines) enable Filipino travelers to go there visa-free. These countries, with the corresponding number of days, are as follows:
- Brunei Darussalam - 14 days
- Indonesia - 30 days
- Laos - 30 days
- Malaysia - 30 days
- Singapore - 30 days
- Thailand - 30 days
- Vietnam - 21 days.
