Vietnam welcomed 15.5 million international visitors in 2018 (Illustrative image)

The information was announced at a conference themed “The world tourism development trend and the impact on Vietnamese tourism” organised by the General Department of Tourism on August 20 in Hanoi.

According to the UNWTO, the number of international tourists worldwide in 2018 has surpassed 1.4 billion. This is the second highest growth milestone in the period from 2010 to the present. In particular, Southeast Asia is the leading region for international growth.

UNWTO’s forecasts show that, by 2030, the number of international tourists worldwide will reach 1.8 billion. Southeast Asia will become the 4th largest attraction area in the world for international visitors.

Private assessment on Vietnam's tourism potential, Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of the Institute of Tourism Research and Development, said that in 2015 Vietnam welcomed 8 million international visitors, and in 2018 welcomed 15.5 million. Total revenue from tourists reached over VND 620 trillion. Thus, only in three years, the number of international visitors to Vietnam has nearly doubled. In 2019, Vietnam is expected to receive from 17.5 to 18 million visitors.

According to experts, tourism trends of the world and Vietnam have many changes, from cash payments to card payments; using payment applications on smartphones and the booking services such as air tickets and hotels through smart phones have increased sharply.

According to tourism and economic experts, the digital technology platform will dominate tourism growth in the Asia-Pacific region with 80% of trips using booking online and 87% of the young generation using smartphones as a tool for tourism. Thereby, it can be said that information technology and social network will be the future of the tourism industry in the world and in Vietnam.

VNF ( NDO )