All three countries currently require all visitors to have visas, except for diplomatic and government officials.
India and Myanmar are considering granting visas on arrival, while Vietnam "is preparing the documentation" to grant reciprocal visa-free facilities for citizens of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
All three have long realised that restrictive visa policies are a major deterrent to their tourism promotion campaigns. They face difficulties, however, convincing foreign and interior ministry officials, who usually cite reciprocity or security reasons for maintaining visa curbs. Indian Tourism Ministry officials said they expected a result by April 2000.
The visas will probably be granted at Chennai, New Delhi, Calcutta and Mumbai international airports on a test basis to citizens of selected countries like Japan, Australia, Germany, France, and Italy.
Sources said Indian Foreign Ministry officials had initially sought to levy another US$10 for visas on arrival on top of the already high visa charges, but have been convinced otherwise.
Vietnam is obliged to provide visa-free facilities under the terms of its entry into ASEAN but has not done so. However, officials of the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism said they are pushing hard for their government to initiate reciprocal visa-free facilities for at least some ASEAN countries.
In Myanmar, the private-sector National Tourism Marketing Committee is seeking to lobby the authorities to follow suit with visa-on-arrival facilities that will allow Myanmar to attract visitors from Bangkok.
The effort is understood to have been set back by the recent terrorist incident at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok.