Vietnam Receives Over 7.6 Million Foreign Tourists During January-April 2025 – OpEd

Vietnam welcomed 7.67 million foreign tourists in the first four months of this year, up 23.8 percent year-on-year, with China continuing to be the country’s biggest feeder market, the VnExpress newspaper reported.

There were 1.95 million mainland Chinese visitors to Vietnam between January-April, up 56 percent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

South Korea ranked second at 1.58 million, followed by Taiwan (440,000), the U.S. (323,000), and Japan (280,000).

The rest of the top 10 markets were Cambodia (279,000), Australia (205,000), India (203,000), Malaysia (182,000) and Thailand (169,000).:  

Favorable visa policies, tourism promotion programs, and the organization of major celebrations in April for Vietnam’s 50th reunification anniversary have contributed to an increase in the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam, GSO said.

Vietnam eyes 22-23 million foreign arrivals this year.

According to the Vietnam Plus newspaper, arrivals from China surged by 56.7 percent year-on-year, while Japan saw an 18.9% rise. Slight increases were also observed from Taiwan (China) at 5.2 percent, and the U.S. at 7.2 percent. In this regard, several Southeast Asian neighbours showed notable growth. The Philippines soared by 98.3 percent, Cambodia by 79.6 percent, and Laos by 44.7 percent. Singapore, however, posted a slight decline of 0.9 percent.

European markets continued to show steady growth, particularly those benefitting from Vietnam’s unilateral visa exemption policy. The UK saw a 20.7 percent, an increase in the number of visitors, followed by France (24.7 percent), Germany (18.8 percent), Italy (32.6 percent), Spain (12.9 percent), Denmark (12.7 percent), Sweden (16.3 percent), and Norway (11.5 percent). Russia recorded a striking 110.9 percent rise, making it the largest European source market, with over 166,000 arrivals during the four-month period.

Notably, three countries granted short-term visa exemptions from March 1 to Dec. 31 under Vietnam’s tourism stimulus programme this year also saw growing visitor numbers, with Poland up by 48.8 percent, Switzerland by 16.6 percent, and the Czech Republic by 1.5 percent.

The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism plans to carry out seven major international promotional campaigns in 2025, aiming to attract between 22 and 23 million international arrivals this year.

According to the Vietnam News newspaper, the number of international tourists visiting Việtnam increased significantly in 2024, reaching nearly 17.6 million arrivals.

Foreign visitors to Việtnam in December 2024 hit 1.75 million, up 27.4 percent compared to the same period previous year.

According to the General Statistics Office, the 17.6 million figure for the whole year represents a 39.5 percent increase from the previous year and 97.6 percent of the number of foreign tourists visiting Việtnam in 2019 (about 18 million), before severe disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The General Statistics Office said 2024 saw a strong recovery of Việtnam’s tourism industry, with a marked increase in international arrivals. Favourable visa policies, along with enhanced tourism promotion and advertising programmes, have contributed to attracting international tourists. In addition, prestigious international tourism awards have also helped boost the image and attractiveness of Việtnam on the world tourism map.

The statistics agency stated that these figures show the sustainable development of Việtnam’s tourism industry in 2024, creating solid momentum to attain the goal of welcoming a higher number of international visitors in the next few years.

Revenues from accommodation and catering services in 2024 are estimated at VNĐ733.9 trillion (US$28.9 billion), while revenue from tourism and travel in 2024 is estimated at VNĐ62.5 trillion ($2.45 billion).

The number of Vietnamese people going abroad in the fourth quarter of 2024 was 1.2 million, up 3.4 percent over the same period last year. In 2024, overall, the number of Vietnamese citizens departing through Việtnam’s border gates was 5.3 million, up 5.5 percent over 2023.

This year, the tourism industry aims to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, welcoming at least 22 million international visitors and 120-130 million domestic visitors, while maintaining a domestic visitor growth rate of up to 9 percent per year.

The industry also aims to directly contribute at least 6 percent to GDP, with at least VNĐ980 trillion ($38.59 billion) in revenues, creating 5.5 million jobs, including 1.8 million direct jobs.

Asian markets continue to make up the lion’s share of the top markets sending tourists to Việtnam.

South Korea led the international markets in 2024, with nearly 4.57 million arrivals, a more than 27 percent increase from 2023.

China’s market also saw a strong recovery, ranking second with nearly 3.74 million arrivals, a 114.4 percent increase year-on-year. However, this figure still lags far behind 2019’s 5.8 million arrivals (nearly a third of the total number), due to an incomplete economic recovery and China’s domestic policies that restrict outbound travel while focusing on attracting international tourists.

Taiwan (China) followed with nearly 1.29 million arrivals, a 51.4 percent year-on-year increase, while the United States accounted for nearly 780,000 visitors and Japan reached 711,464.

Indian tourists to Việtnam also rose significantly in 2024, totalling 501,427 arrivals, a nearly 28 percent increase from the previous year.

Other top 10 markets included Malaysia with 495,383 arrivals, Australia with 490,880 and Cambodia with 474,580 visitors.

Thailand remained among the top markets for visitors to Việtnam, with 418,054 arrivals in 2024. However, this represented only 85.5 percent of the figure from 2023 (more than 489,000 arrivals). Meanwhile, the number of Vietnamese visitors to Thailand went up three times, totalling 1.03 million arrivals last year.