12.6 million foreign visitors entered Vietnam between January and November of 2023, according to a recent article by the media site seasia.stats, which visually represents statistics about Southeast Asian countries.

Based on official data from each tourism ministry, Malaysia tops the charts with 29 million tourist arrivals in 2023. Thailand closely trails in second place with 28 million, while Singapore secures third with 13.6 million visits.

Source: Seasia Stats

About 12.6 million international tourists have visited Vietnam in 2023, a 3.4-fold rise from 2022, surpassing the target of 8 million set earlier.

The yearly figure, however, is equivalent to only 70% of the pre-pandemic level in 2019, the agency said, adding that in December alone, it stood at nearly 1.4 million, up 11.2% month-on-month, and 93.9% year-on-year.

Vietnam welcomed more than 3 million foreign tourist arrivals in the first two months of 2024, up 68.7% year-on-year, and equivalent to 98.5% of the figure recorded before the Covid-19 outbreak, according to the General Statistics Office.

In January 2024 alone, the amount stood at over 1.5 million, equivalent to the same period in 2019 before the pandemic broke out. Meanwhile, in February, more than 1.5 million foreign visitors came to Vietnam, 64% higher than the same period last year.

Experts attributed the result to favorable visa policies, stimulus programs, and the efforts of the government and people in promoting and marketing tourism over the past time.

The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) said that these figures showed a positive recovery of Vietnamese tourism, and are a foundation for the sector to fulfill its target of 18 million foreign tourists this year.

Vietnamese tourism sees positive recovery in the first two months of 2024. Photo: VNA

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) consider expanding the coverage of the visa exemption policy, VNA reported.

This is part of his recently issued Directive No. 06/CT-TTg, which urges the implementation of some focal tasks after the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

Accordingly, he asked the MPS to consider expanding the visa exemption policy to citizens of some other countries based on the new situation and Vietnam’s relations with those countries.

The PM also ordered the Foreign Ministry to quickly review the application of the unilateral visa exemption for citizens of 13 countries so far, and coordinate with the MPS to propose other countries for inclusion in Vietnam’s unilateral visa exemption list.

The visa-free policy expansion is expected to attract more international tourists to Vietnam and enhance the country’s tourism competitiveness compared to others in the region and the world.

Vietnam is currently exempting visa requirements for citizens of 25 countries, including 13 entitled to unilateral exemption, namely Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, Russia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Belarus.

Since August 2023, it has granted electronic visas to citizens of all countries and extended the stay from 30 to 90 days with multiple entries. Meanwhile, citizens of the countries entitled to the unilateral visa exemption have also had their stay in Vietnam extended to 45 from 15 days.

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