The year of acceleration of Vietnam tourism

Sonja Thürlemann, a 66-year-old tourist from Switzerland, said she had heard a lot about Vietnam from her friends so she decided to visit. She was impressed with the cuisine of the three regions and loved Hanoi's Old Quarter, Hoi An, and Cai Rang floating market. "Our country has many beautiful landscapes but they are not as distinct as in Vietnam," Sonja said.

Sonja Thürlemann and Marcellinus Franziskus Thürlemann are two of tens of millions of international visitors who "came to Vietnam for love" this year.

According to data from the General Statistics Office, the number of international visitors to Vietnam reached nearly 16 million in the first 11 months of the year. By the end of December, Vietnam is estimated to welcome 17-17.5 million arrivals, an increase of more than 35% compared to 2023 and equal to 94-97% of the 18 million arrivals in 2019. According to the United Nations Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), this year's recovery in Asia-Pacific reached 85%. Thus, compared to the region, the recovery of Vietnamese tourism is at a high level.

"Increasing from 12.6 million international visitors last year to 17.5 million this year is a significant effort by the tourism industry," said Nguyen Van My, Chairman of Lua Viet Travel Company. In addition to tourism promotion campaigns to the world, this year, localities have continuously organized a series of events and festivals to attract tourists. The way they organize events on a larger scale, more systematically and more attractively shows that Vietnamese people are gradually becoming more aware of attracting international visitors.

"2024 is a successful year for the industry. Recovery to near pre-pandemic levels shows Vietnam's competitiveness and attractiveness," said Pham Hai Quynh, Director of the Asian Tourism Development Institute.

One of the reasons for the strong growth in international tourist arrivals, according to Mr. Quynh, is thanks to The government has opened its doors to international tourism; tourism promotion has been stepped up. Infrastructure, hotels, and tourism services have been improved, helping visitors enhance their experiences. Vietnam has also promoted many types of tourism that attract visitors such as sea, eco, cultural, culinary, and MICE tourism. MICE is one of the types that has flourished this year, with a typical example being the group of 4,500 Indian visitors to Vietnam in August.

From August 15, 2023, Vietnam will increase the temporary stay period from 15 to 45 days for citizens of 13 countries with unilateral visa exemptions as well as apply electronic visas (e-visas) to citizens of all countries and territories at 13 airports, 13 seaports and 16 land border gates; the temporary stay period will be increased from 30 days to 90 days and the visa will be valid for multiple entries.

"My sister booked a tour to Vietnam right after the announcement of extending the temporary stay to 45 days was made official. She will be in Ha Giang in February 2025, when the peach blossoms are at their peak," said Maria Sanchez, a Spanish tourist traveling in Vietnam. Many of her friends are also planning to visit Vietnam in 2025, after the visa relaxation policy took effect in August.

"Guests say the 45-day stay is great, they can travel more, stay longer in each place, instead of just going around looking at flowers like when they had 15 days," said Nguyen Ba Thang, a tour guide specializing in the Spanish market, living in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Tourism Association Nguyen Tien Dat said that the success of the tourism industry this year is partly due to the large contribution of visitors from mainland China, Taiwan and South Korea. The number of visitors from these three markets in the first 11 months of the year reached about 8.6 million, accounting for 54% of the international tourist market share. In addition, Vietnam's major growth driver this year also comes from European visitors, especially countries that enjoy unilateral visa exemption and relaxation policies such as Italy, France and the UK.

"Vietnamese tourism is gradually becoming more systematic" is the assessment of Mr. Vu Van Tuyen, Director of Travelogy Tourism Company. Previously, Vietnamese tourism did not have many products to attract tourists. The products were often overlapping and similar, with no difference. But this year, everything has changed. Many places have unique tourism products, encouraging visitors to stay longer, instead of 7-10 days, visitors stay 3-4 weeks.

"This year, Hanoi has expanded its night tourism products, not only in the city center but also in the suburbs, allowing visitors to stay for a week or two without getting bored," said Mr. Tuyen.

Experts also highly appreciate the number of domestic tourists in Vietnam, estimated to welcome 120 million by the end of this year; an increase of 13% compared to 106 million last year and 1.5 times higher than the 80 million in 2019. In particular, this number is even more meaningful in the context of high airfares during the first 9 months of this year.

"Vietnamese consumers are now very smart consumers," Mr. Dat explained, explaining that despite the high cost of airfares, the number of tourists has not decreased. Many people have chosen to travel close to home by car or train or fly at bad times to save money. Many of them even travel 2-3 times a year.

"If the plane tickets are expensive, we choose to travel during the low season. During the peak summer season, the family chooses to take the train from Hanoi to Hue, Da Nang or choose a nearby place that can be driven, the cost is much more affordable," Nguyen Ngoc Lan Anh, 30 years old, said about her plan to travel three times a year...