Vietnam welcomes record number of international visitors in January 2025

Welcoming nearly 2.1 million international visitors, Vietnam recorded a new milestone for the tourism industry in 2025, surpassing the achievement of welcoming 2 million international visitors in January 2020. Compared to the same period in 2019 - the time before the Covid pandemic, the number of international visitors in January 2025 was 37.8% higher.

Vietnam welcomed nearly 2.1 million international visitors in January 2025, a record number for the tourism industry.

Of which, arrivals by air reached 1.8 million, accounting for 86.8% of international arrivals to Vietnam and increasing by 39.6% over the same period last year; by road reached 228.4 thousand arrivals, accounting for 11.0% and increasing by 29.1%; by sea reached 44.9 thousand arrivals, accounting for 2.2% and decreasing by 7.2%.

China returned to being the leading market providing customers for Vietnam's tourism industry with 575 thousand arrivals, accounting for 27.7%. This figure is much higher than the same period in January 2029 (reaching 373.5 thousand arrivals), an increase of 54%.

The Korean market ranked second, reaching 417 thousand arrivals (accounting for 20.1%). Neighboring Cambodia ranked third (100 thousand arrivals), the US ranked fourth (93 thousand arrivals), and Taiwan ranked fifth (91 thousand arrivals). Following were the markets of Japan, Australia, India, Malaysia, and Thailand.

The impressive recovery of visitors from China is thanks to activities to connect, open up the market, and enhance cooperation and exchange of tourists between authorities, localities, and businesses of Vietnam and China. In November 2024, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized a program to introduce Vietnamese culture and tourism in Chongqing and Kunming to further promote cultural and tourism exchanges between the two countries.

International tourists visit Lan Ha Bay (Cat Ba, Hai Phong ) on ​​Rita Cruise.

In addition, the rise of the Cambodian market is also a notable point, contributing to the impressive number of visitors in January 2025. In 2024, Vietnam welcomed 475 thousand visitors from Cambodia, and in January 2025 alone, there were about 100 thousand visitors from this market, bringing Cambodia from 9th to 3rd place in the markets providing the top visitors to Vietnam.

The main growth driver in January 2025 came from the Chinese market, up 137.4% over the same period in 2024; Cambodia increased sharply by 168.6%, the US increased by 22.3%; Japan increased by 19.3%; Taiwan increased by 8.5%; Australia increased by 7.1%, India increased by 5.2%. In addition, the number of international visitors to Vietnam also had significant growth from Southeast Asian markets such as the Philippines (+104.9%), Laos (+99.4%), Indonesia (+7.5%).

Meanwhile, January 2025 continued to witness impressive growth from European markets with unilateral visa exemptions, including Russia (+116.8%), the UK (+13.8%), France (+16.1%), Germany (+22.9%). In addition, there were Italy (+21.8%), Spain (+7.2%), Denmark (+17.8%), Norway (+35.6%), Sweden (+31.8%).

The growth from these markets continues to show the effectiveness of the policy of increasing the temporary stay period from 15 days to 45 days for 13 countries with unilateral visa exemption according to Resolution 128/NQ-CP of the Government, effective from August 15, 2023.

Source baogiaothong

Source: https://baotayninh.vn/viet-nam-don-luong-khach-quoc-te-ky-luc-trong-thang-1-2025-a185754.html