A series of international tourist markets to Vietnam increased 'hugely'

For the first time since the pandemic, international arrivals to Vietnam surpassed the pre-pandemic peak in 2019, reaching more than 4.6 million in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 3.2%.

This result is thanks to the "huge" growth of many tourist markets compared to the same period last year. Specifically, major markets in the Northeast Asia region continued to increase strongly, which is the main driving force for the recovery of international visitors to Vietnam. In particular, the Chinese market increased by 534.5% compared to the same period in 2023, Taiwan increased by 127.3%, South Korea increased by 52%, Japan increased by 52.7%. Nearby markets in the Southeast Asian region also grew well, including Indonesia (118.5%), the Philippines (52.6%), Malaysia (24.6%), Cambodia (19.1%), Singapore (8.6%).

Loạt thị trường khách quốc tế đến Việt Nam tăng 'khủng'

Notably, the tourist markets in Europe all grew vigorously, such as France increased by 29.3%, Italy increased by 27.1%, the UK increased by 15.0%, Germany increased by 15.8%... These are the markets that enjoy the unilateral visa exemption policy to enter Vietnam with a temporary stay of up to 45 days. In general, the number of international visitors has almost completely recovered and even increased compared to the first quarter of 2019 - the year Vietnam attracted the most international visitors in history. Specifically, the number of visitors from Australia reached 120% compared to the same period in 2019; Asia reached 104%, America reached 103%, the US alone reached 106% and Europe almost completely recovered, reaching 97%. For the Chinese tourist market that has been leading Vietnamese tourism for many years, in 2023 it recovered 30% compared to 2019, but in the first 3 months of 2024 the recovery rate reached 69%, showing positive signs.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Chi, a tourism expert, said that the reason why international tourists to Vietnam in the first quarter increased sharply was because this was the peak season. However, it must be acknowledged that the e-visa policy factors expanding to all countries and increasing to 90 days, increasing the length of stay for 13 visa-free countries have stimulated visitors to return to Vietnam. However, in terms of visitor structure, there have been many changes when individual visitors traveling independently following the world trend are more numerous, while visitors traveling through tours or groups are not yet numerous, so domestic travel companies have complained of "hunger" for visitors. "I see that the group of English-speaking tour guides taking Western visitors are mostly individual family groups, with few large groups. The visa policies we are implementing are probably attracting more independent visitors," Mr. Chi emphasized.

In terms of market size in the first quarter of 2024, South Korea continued to send the largest number of visitors to Vietnam with 1.2 million arrivals (accounting for 26.6%). China ranked second, reaching 890,000 (accounting for 19%), followed by Taiwan in third place (300,000) and the US (232,000). The top 10 largest markets for Vietnamese tourism also include Japan (179,000 arrivals), Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, India, and Cambodia.

Thanhnien.vn

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