Japanese investors have raised concerns about the long wait times at HCMC's Tan Son Nhat Airport and delays in refunding value-added tax to tourists.
At a summit with city authorities on Monday, the Japan Chamber of Commerce in HCMC pointed out that the airport serves as a gateway to the city and shapes the first impressions of foreign visitors arriving for business or tourism, but has long queues at its immigration counters.
"Compared to international airports in neighboring countries such as Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, the waiting time to complete entry procedures at Tan Son Nhat Airport is significantly longer," Furusawa Yasuyuki, head of the chamber’s living environment department, said.
Businesses also complained about the frequent malfunctioning of the automatic immigration system for Vietnamese citizens.
Besides, some foreigners with residence cards are mistakenly treated as tourists, resulting in incorrect visa dates, they said.
The chamber also complained about issues related to the use of APEC cards in priority lanes.
Onose Takahisa, vice president and head of its tax and customs department, pointed to frequent delays in processing VAT refunds, which cause inconvenience to travelers
Attributing the problems to the huge workload airport staff have, it said: "Improving operations is urgently needed to ease the burden on passengers."
Response from authorities
The city Immigration Department said Tan Son Nhat Airport is designed to handle 28 million passengers annually, but last year there were over 40.7 million.
From 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. there are 60 takeoffs and landings on average, it said.
"With an average of one flight per minute, congestion becomes inevitable," a Tan Son Nhat Border Gate Police official said.
To improve things, better coordination between various agencies is needed along with adjusting flight schedules to reduce bottlenecks, they said.
Things are worsened by the facts that the limited space in the terminal is further reduced due to housing of non-aviation services and computer systems have become outdated, they added.
Asked about the tardy VAT refunds, the city Customs Department said the current technology is not adequately efficient and plans are underway for upgrades.
"The system takes 10 minutes per transaction, meaning only six refunds can be processed per hour. This affects tourists' flight schedules, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by these technical issues."
Vo Van Hoan, vice chairman of the city People's Committee, urged relevant agencies to coordinate efforts to modernize the airport, which is increasingly outdated compared to its regional counterparts.
Nevertheless, Tan Son Nhat Airport ranked 44th in a survey of the world's 70 best airports conducted by British newspaper The Telegraph.
The ranking evaluated airports based on 30 criteria, including connectivity, reliability, passenger experience, Wi-Fi speed, quality of restaurants and lounges, availability of outdoor terraces, rest zones, water fountains, and mobile charging points.
The Source: VnExpress/ Japanese businesses complain about long waits at HCMC airport/ By Vien Thong December 10, 2024 | 12:00 pm GMT+7
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