Increasing 2-3 million visitors is not easy.

At the Conference on implementing the Action Program to implement the task of increasing tourism growth in 2025 on September 18, Mr. Pham Van Thuy, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said that Resolution 226/NQ-CP dated August 5, 2025 of the Government assigned the tourism industry to strive to welcome 25 million international visitors and 150 million domestic visitors this year.

Previously, the industry's target was 22-23 million international arrivals and 120-130 million domestic arrivals, meaning the resolution raised the target by about 2-3 million international arrivals and 20-30 million domestic arrivals. Mr. Thuy assessed this as a huge challenge.

Meanwhile, international visitors to Vietnam are seasonal (usually from October of the previous year to April of the following year). By the end of August, Vietnam had only welcomed 14 million international visitors, reaching 56% of the year's target; domestic visitors were estimated at 106 million, reaching 70.6% of the target.

Therefore, according to Mr. Vu The Binh, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, to achieve the target of 25 million international visitors in 2025, the tourism industry must welcome more than 11 million visitors in just the last 4 months of the year; an average of about 2.75 million visitors per month - an extremely heavy task.

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The number of international visitors to Vietnam has increased sharply since the beginning of this year thanks to the Government 's visa exemption policy, increased length of stay, special visa incentives... Photo: Xuan Ngoc

Statistics from the National Tourism Administration show that before the Covid-19 pandemic, the highest number of international visitors to Vietnam in a month was 1.8 million (November 2019). After the pandemic, this number gradually recovered and really exploded from the beginning of 2025, reaching new record highs of 2.07 million (January) and 2.05 million (March) respectively.

In the first 8 months of this year, Vietnam only received an average of 1.75 million international visitors per month. Thus, if we want to attract 2.75 million visitors, we need to increase by 1 million visitors per month, equivalent to an increase of more than 57%. Compared to the months with the highest number of visitors as above, the increase is also needed to be more than 33%.

"It is really a huge pressure on the tourism industry and the business community," admitted Mr. Cao Tri Dung, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association. The reason is that tourism is a policy-sensitive industry, requiring a certain amount of time for customers to change their decisions. Especially with distant markets such as Europe, Australia, America,... tourists often plan their trips 6 months to a year in advance.

Urgently promote and welcome hundreds of international travel agencies

According to Mr. Vu The Binh, to quickly increase the number of international visitors, the Vietnam Tourism Association needs to focus on implementing two solutions: First , promote digital communication and promotion on digital platforms to bring Vietnamese tourism to the world , first focusing on key markets and emerging markets. From there, attract independent visitors or those traveling in registered groups.

Second , prioritize direct promotion with travel companies in key markets through organizing international fam groups. Thereby, introducing new products and attractive services so that they can immediately organize groups of tourists to Vietnam in 2025 and the following years.

Accordingly, the Vietnam Tourism Association has presided over and coordinated with local tourism management agencies, tourism associations and businesses, to plan to organize 7 fam groups, implemented in 3 phases, from now until the end of the year and early 2026. It is expected that Vietnam tourism will welcome 300-400 leaders of international travel agencies from key markets.

In addition, we will step up promotion activities in key markets. "We have divided activities and events to implement them in the best and most effective way," Mr. Cao Tri Dung emphasized.

He said that nearby markets that can adapt quickly to policies such as China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan (China), the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, India, etc. will be promoted immediately, with the expectation of increasing the number of visitors by 20-30% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, for distant markets, due to the need for longer time to "absorb" the policy, it is expected that from November to December, there will be a reaction, the number of visitors may increase by 15-20%.

One of the current weaknesses of Vietnam tourism is that the products are too old and have not changed over many years. As commented by Deputy Director Pham Van Thuy, there are products that were built 5-7 years ago, even more than 10 years ago, and are still being promoted and invited to customers. He suggested that it is necessary to change the way of thinking, the way of doing things, and build products that tourists need, not what already exists.

One of the new factors that is being focused on in developing tourism products today is cuisine. Ms. Nguyen Thi Khanh, Vice President of Vietnam Tourism Association, President of Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association, commented that cuisine is becoming a prominent trend of global tourism. She suggested that localities need to strengthen connections and cooperation to build tourism products based on the unique cultural values ​​of cuisine.

For example, Ca Mau province will soon organize a culinary festival within the framework of World Tourism Day, with the participation of nearly 200 travel companies nationwide to promote, survey and develop local culinary tourism products.

“To promote Vietnamese cuisine, we boldly sent chefs to participate in international competitions and achieved high results, opening up positive signals for the journey of bringing Vietnamese flavors closer to the world,” Ms. Khanh shared.

In addition, Mr. Cao Tri Dung noted the need to build a breakthrough tourism product ecosystem to both attract and retain tourists. He suggested that large travel businesses coordinate with localities that are gateways to international visitors such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, etc. to proactively develop outstanding products and introduce them to markets with the potential for rapid growth in the short term such as Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, and South Asia.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/2-75-trieu-luot-khach-quoc-te-thang-ap-luc-lon-chay-nuoc-rut-co-kip-ve-dich-2443993.html