Vietnam Strives to Welcome 110 Million Visitors in 2023

Vietnam officially welcomed the first Chinese tourists, after the country reopened international tourism activities from March 2023 (Photo: TD).

Vietnam welcomed more than 2.69 million foreign tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2023, 29.7 times higher than that of the same period last year, VNS citied the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Most of the foreign visitors, 89.8%, came to Vietnam by air, 9% by road, and 1.2% by sea. The Republic of Korea is still the largest market sending tourists to Vietnam, with an estimated 250,649 tourists in March and 810,938 visitors in the first quarter of 2023.

In March alone, international visitors to Vietnam were estimated at 895,400, down 4% compared to the previous month and 21.5 times higher than the same period last year.

March saw the return of tourists from China on March 15, when Vietnam officially welcomed the first Chinese tourists, after the country reopened international tourism activities.

This month, China is the second largest tourist market sending tourists to Vietnam, with an estimated 69,329 visitors. Generally, in the first quarter of 2023, visitors from China were estimated at 140,233, ranking third in the markets sending visitors to Vietnam.

The office estimated revenue from accommodation and catering services in the three months to hit VND 161 trillion ( USD 6.85 billion). Meanwhile, thanks to exciting cultural and tourism activities in the first months of the year across localities, travel businesses earned about VND 6.8 trillion, a 2.2-fold increase from last year.

Some localities' revenues have posted significant increases in revenues from the same period last year, such as the central city of Da Nang (73.5%), the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh (43.1%), the southern city of Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City (42.4% and 37.2%), and Hanoi (12.5%).

Some localities' revenues have posted significant increases in revenues from the same period last year. Photo: Travel Triangle

This year, the tourism sector has set a target of serving 110 million tourists, including some 8 million foreign holidaymakers, and raking in approximately VND 650 trillion (US $27.67 billion) in revenue.

Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh said given that Chinese tourists have returned to Vietnam and the strongest visa policy ever will soon be approved, the number of international visitors to the country will surely increase.

All tourism businesses expect the figure to surpass the set targets, said Binh.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism) has carried out various promotional activities to attract international visitors to Vietnam.

From March 7-9, Vietnam participated in the ITB Berlin International Tourism Fair, considered the largest international one in the industry.

Vietnam’s impressive booth design, the participation of numerous businesses and localities, diverse promotional activities introducing the country’s tourism products and services, and unique artistic performances have attracted many international organisers, partners, visitors, and journalists.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Administration of Tourism have just held a meeting to discuss several collaborative activities to promote Vietnam’s tourism abroad and contribute to the recovery of the post-pandemic tourism industry.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism proposed that both sides focus on promoting both inbound and outbound tourism, especially ensuring the rights and interests of Vietnamese people travelling abroad.

In addition to the main forms of tourism, such as ecotourism, island tourism, MICE tourism, promoting and advertising cultural and culinary tourism should also be paid attention to, as culinary tourism is an effective way for international tourists to know more about Vietnam.

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