Tourism aims for trillions of dong in revenue

Continuously breaking the peak in the number of international visitors, Vietnam's tourism industry has not only risen stronger but also progressed towards conquering the record revenue milestone of one million billion VND.

Breakthrough in both quantity and quality

According to data from the General Statistics Office, in the first 8 months of 2025, international visitors to Vietnam reached nearly 14 million people, an increase of nearly 22% over the same period last year. In August alone, more than 1.68 million visitors entered Vietnam, an increase of 8% over July and the highest compared to Augusts of previous years.

Vietnam is increasingly attracting international visitors. In the photo: Russian visitors arriving at Cam Ranh International Airport ( Khanh Hoa ), August 2025

PHOTO: BA DUY

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism assessed that although it is still the low season for international tourism, the positive growth results in July and August have shown positive signals for the inbound tourism market. The growth drivers come from Europe (up 33.2%), Asia (up 21.3%), Australia (up 14%), America (up 9.1%) and Africa (up 4.7%). Major markets recorded high growth rates, including China (up 44.3%), Japan (17.1%), India (42.2%), Cambodia (50.7%). In particular, the Russian market continued to grow very rapidly (164.9%).

Vietnam still needs to improve service quality, strengthen tourism human resource training, and professionalize services to meet international standards. Improve connecting infrastructure by expanding and upgrading airports and international routes to increase access to large markets. Along with that, there needs to be close links between tourism businesses, airlines and state agencies to create a synchronous and effective tourism value chain.

Ms. Dong Thi Ngoc Anh , Deputy General Director of Sun Group Corporation

Not only did the number of visitors increase in August, but the tourism industry also recorded a high number of visitors nationwide during the recent September 2 holiday. According to data from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, during the 4-day holiday (from August 30 to September 2), it is estimated that the tourism industry nationwide served about 5.5 million visitors, an increase of 83.3% over the same period in 2024. In total, in the first 8 months, there were 106 million domestic visitors traveling domestically. At the regular August Government meeting held on the morning of September 6, chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, tourism continued to be considered one of the 9 bright spots of socio-economic development with impressive growth.

Russian tourists (cruise ship passengers) visit Truong Son craft village, Nam Nha Trang ward (Khanh Hoa), September 8

PHOTO: BA DUY

The strong growth of both international and domestic visitors since the beginning of the year has helped the Vietnamese tourism industry bring in 707,000 billion VND in revenue. This is a very impressive number, because by the end of 2024, Vietnam's total revenue from tourists will only reach about 840,000 billion VND. That is the amount of money earned from more than 17.5 million international visitors and 110 million domestic visitors. Even in the golden year of the tourism industry before the pandemic (2019), after 12 months, Vietnam only "pocketed" 755,000 billion VND from 18 million international visitors and 85 million domestic visitors. The last 4 months of 2025 are also the peak period for international visitors. If Vietnam maintains its current strong growth momentum and reaches the target of welcoming 25 million international visitors and 130 million domestic visitors, the revenue of millions of billions of VND will be within reach.

The level of contribution of tourism to economic growth shows that tourism is increasingly promoting its role as a comprehensive economic sector with strong spillover effects. This is the first "sweet fruit" since localities in particular and the whole country in general have resolutely oriented tourism development from quantity to quality, completely curing the chronic disease of too many visitors but not much spending in Vietnamese tourism in recent years.

The 2024 Statistical Yearbook, recently released by the Ministry of Finance, also shows a remarkable improvement in international visitors' spending when coming to Vietnam compared to the previous period. While in the 2022 Statistical Yearbook, the average spending per international visitor to Vietnam only increased slightly from 1,141.5 USD in 2017 to 1,151.8 USD in 2019, by 2023 it had increased sharply to 1,449.7 USD. Notably, while the accommodation, food, travel, shopping, healthcare, etc. sections did not record too many fluctuations, the other spending sections accounted for the highest proportion of the structure and increased the most, from 8.1% in 2017 and 9.5% in 2019 to 18.6% in 2023.

There is still plenty of room for tourists to spend money.

Despite the encouraging results, compared to many countries in the region, the average spending per international visitor in Vietnam is still quite modest. According to analysis from a number of international tourism studies, in 2024, the average spending of an international visitor in Vietnam will reach about 1,200 USD per trip, while in Thailand it will be 1,800 USD, Malaysia about 1,500 USD, and Singapore is superior with 2,000 - 2,500 USD. This large gap shows that although Vietnam is attractive in terms of landscape, culture, affordable prices and safety; the ability to exploit tourists' wallets is not commensurate with its potential.

On the occasion of September 2nd holiday, many tourists visited Hoi An ancient town.

PHOTO: MANH CUONG

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Huu Huan (University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City) pointed out that Vietnam's tourism has made a breakthrough in quantity, but most of the tourists' spending is focused on basic needs such as food and accommodation. Services with higher profit margins such as shopping, nightlife or unique cultural and artistic experiences have not been properly invested. "We have an abundant number of visitors, but the economic efficiency is not high because of the lack of products and services that make tourists want to spend more money. If we do not improve soon, Vietnam will find it difficult to escape the label of a "cheap and beautiful" destination, not a place to strongly stimulate on-site consumption and export," Mr. Huan emphasized.

In reality, many international visitors to Vietnam often go on package tours, with short durations, and their spending is allocated to airfare, hotels, and a few special meals. Meanwhile, activities that are expected to bring in large revenues such as shopping, cultural experiences, or nighttime entertainment are not really attractive. Compared to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, or Singapore, tourist centers that are inherently associated with shopping districts, art shows, and high-end health care services, it can be seen that Vietnam still lacks strong enough highlights to retain visitors longer and encourage them to spend more.

Another factor that cannot be ignored is the "on-the-spot export" role of tourism. When an international visitor comes to Vietnam and spends on handicraft products, typical cuisine, or even technology products, the value does not stop at tourism but also spreads to manufacturing, agriculture and creative industries. However, souvenir products are still quite monotonous, mainly traditional handicrafts or cheap souvenirs, while high-end product lines, associated with national brands and internationally competitive, are still absent. This makes the opportunity to turn tourism into an effective export channel not fully exploited.

Tourism experts say that to increase tourist spending, Vietnam needs to create comprehensive experiences that meet higher demands. A music party, an outdoor light show, an international shopping or culinary district, or a resort package combining health care and sports, are all services that can make tourists willing to spend more.

Policy breakthroughs for tourism to rise

As a comprehensive economic sector, tourism is always considered an effective lever to bring about a spillover effect to many other economic sectors. Not only consumption and services, but also real estate and infrastructure can immediately flourish if there are vibrant tourism activities. That is the reason why the Government has continuously adjusted many breakthrough visa policies in the past time with the expectation of accelerating tourism in the pivotal year that brings Vietnam into a new era of development.

Ms. Dong Thi Ngoc Anh, Deputy General Director of Sun Group, assessed that the increasingly positive and favorable changes in visa policy are a great driving force, strengthening the confidence of businesses like Sun Group to invest long-term in tourism development. Thanks to the increasingly open visa policy, businesses have more motivation and confidence to invest and build large-scale, synchronous and classy tourism projects and products at key destinations in Vietnam. Attractive new products are an important factor to attract more visitors, stay longer and spend more.

The most impressive is the 45-day visa exemption policy for citizens of 12 European countries, effective from August 15, and visa exemption for 6 priority groups of visitors such as scientists, investors, and billionaires. This is a strategic move to attract high-spending international tourist markets such as Europe, where tourists tend to stay for a long time, and billionaires and investors that Vietnam has long targeted. The 45-day visa exemption policy will motivate international visitors to choose Vietnam as a long-term destination.

"With the new and correct visa policies, Vietnam has full potential to compete equally with the tourism powerhouse Thailand, making tourism truly a spearhead economic sector as directed by the Politburo. However, to realize this goal, we still need to improve many more things," Ms. Ngoc Anh stated her opinion.

According to the Sun Group leader, many destinations in Vietnam have focused on investing in increasingly new and classy tourism products such as Phu Quoc, Da Nang, Hanoi, Sa Pa, etc. However, in general, we still lack high-end tourism products and truly classy cultural tourism products with local characteristics. Vietnam is a destination rich in potential with rich natural resources and a massive and diverse cultural heritage. Exploiting the unique cultural values ​​of each locality not only creates unique and different tourism products, but also contributes to preserving and promoting national cultural heritage, while promoting the development of cultural industry, keeping up with world trends. To improve the competitive position on the international tourism map, investing in the development of high-end tourism products, especially cultural tourism, is an inevitable trend towards sustainable development. Vietnam needs to develop high-end tourism products, targeting high-end, high-spending customers such as luxury resorts, synchronous entertainment complexes, high-end golf courses and cultural tourism products with local imprints while still ensuring class and difference...

Vietravel Corporation Chairman Nguyen Quoc Ky emphasized that although the importance of tourism is clearly seen from the central to local levels, in reality, direct investment is still too little. In addition to implementing new experimental visa policies, there is no policy to create breakthrough products. In addition, the tourism industry is still struggling with the story of promotion and advertising without money. The tourism development investment fund exists but operates like the state budget, making it both difficult and slow to use. Tourism promotion agencies abroad have been talking about it for a long time but have not been able to implement it. Every locality has raised the policy of prioritizing tourism development as a spearhead economic sector, but the plan for land allocation and infrastructure allocation is still sluggishly implemented following the procedures of one law and another regulation. There are projects that need land but businesses have waited for the locality to auction it for 2-3 years without finishing. That is a typical example of the "golden hoops" that hinder the development of the tourism industry.

"We set high goals and high determination, which also requires strong and drastic actions. This is the time when the country is making comprehensive changes in institutions and policies to step into a new era, so the tourism industry also needs a breakthrough, changing from awareness, viewpoints to policies, so that tourism can truly become a spearhead economic sector," Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky emphasized.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/du-lich-huong-toi-doanh-thu-trieu-ti-dong-185250908231421886.htm