Vietnam welcomed more than 3 million international visitors in the first two months of the year.

The number of international visitors to Vietnam in February 2024 reached over 1.53 million, bringing the total number of international visitors in the first two months of the year to more than 3 million, an increase of 68.7% over the same period last year. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said that the number of international tourists to Vietnam in February 2024 reached 1,531,411, an increase of 1.3% over January 2024, an increase of 64.1% over the same period in 2023. The number of domestic tourists is estimated at 14.0 million, of which about 4.9 million are staying. Total revenue from tourists in the first two months of 2024 is estimated at 136.1 trillion VND. In terms of market size, Korea continues to be the largest sending market with 844 thousand arrivals (accounting for 27.7%). China ranked second, reaching 538 thousand arrivals, Taiwan ranked third (198 thousand arrivals), followed by the US (156 thousand arrivals). The top 10 largest markets for Vietnamese tourism also include Japan (107 thousand arrivals), Australia (97 thousand arrivals), Malaysia (92 thousand arrivals), India (79 thousand arrivals), Cambodia (79 thousand arrivals), Thailand (76 thousand arrivals).

Many foreign tourists come to Da Nang for tourism and vacation... on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2024 - Photo: Duc Hoang

In terms of growth momentum, in general, in the first two months of the year, all regions grew strongly compared to the same period in 2023, notably the recovery of the Asian market (+77.8%), Europe (+76%), Australia (+36.5%), and the Americas (+8.4%). In particular, the Chinese market had a very impressive recovery, 7.5 times higher than the same period in 2023. Along with that, major markets continued to grow strongly: Korea (+50.7%), Japan (+52.3%), Taiwan (China) (+120%). Nearby markets in the Southeast Asian region grew well, including Malaysia (+26.7%), Singapore (+11.3%), Cambodia (+13.3%), Philippines (+41.7%), Indonesia (+116.3%). The Thai market alone decreased by 22.2%.

The potential market of India continues to bring positive signals with an increase of 34.7% compared to the same period in 2023, ranking 8th in the top 10 leading markets. Notably, markets in Europe all grew vigorously, especially markets enjoying unilateral visa exemption policies such as: UK (+32.6%), France (+34.6%), Germany (+37.1%), Italy (+82.3%), Spain (+48.5%), Russia (+58.7%), Denmark (+47.4%), Sweden (+41.9%), Norway (+41.2%). According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the excitement of tourism activities and the results of welcoming international visitors in the first 2 months of 2024 show a very positive recovery of Vietnam's tourism industry. The highlight is the timely direction and guidance of the national tourism management agency for localities on good preparation for activities to attract and welcome tourists during the Lunar New Year and the beginning of the year of the Dragon, the promotion of communication activities, promoting Vietnamese tourism to international friends, the proactiveness and creativity of localities and enterprises in building products and services to serve tourists, especially products to experience unique Vietnamese culture, effectively exploiting types of resort tourism, sports , nature exploration, ecological tourism, festival tourism, and community tourism in all regions. Especially the clear impact from the visa policy applied from August 15, increasing the temporary stay period from 15 days to 45 days for countries with unilateral visa exemption and issuing electronic visas to all countries with a temporary stay period of up to 90 days. These are positive signs for Vietnam's tourism industry right at the beginning of 2024, laying the foundation for the industry to achieve the goal of welcoming 18 million international visitors this year.

Fatherland Newspaper

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