In November 2023, Vietnam tourism welcomed over 1.23 million international visitors, an increase of 11% over the previous month. This is the month with the highest number of international visitors since the beginning of 2023, bringing the total number of international visitors in the first 11 months of the year to over 11.2 million.
According to the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, South Korea continues to be the largest market with 3.2 million arrivals (accounting for 28.5%). China ranked second with 1.5 million arrivals. Next was the Taiwanese market with 758,000 arrivals. Visitors from the US market ranked fourth with 658,000 arrivals and Japan ranked fifth with 527,000 arrivals.
The next three positions in the top are all in the Southeast Asia region: Thailand (442,000 visits); Malaysia (419,000 visits); Cambodia (359,000 visits). The Australian market ranked 9th (353,000 visits), India ranked 10th (352,000 visits).
Visa-free visitors from European markets to Vietnam grew strongly in November 2023.
Notably, the UK, France and Germany are still the largest tourist markets of Vietnam in Europe.
In November, European visa-free markets grew strongly and achieved the best growth rate among the continents, up 58.5% compared to October 2023. This included the contribution of markets on the list enjoying unilateral visa-free policies with temporary stays of up to 45 days.
Of which, the UK increased by 38.6%, French visitors increased the most up to 72.5%, Germany increased by 36.1%, Italy increased by 55.1%, Russian visitors increased by 41.8%, visitors from Northern European countries such as Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden... also increased sharply from 33% to more than 84%...
The Chinese market continued to maintain its growth momentum with an increase of 9.6%. The Japanese market increased slightly (+7.7%), and the US market grew well (+18.7%).
Markets in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia also increased sharply.
Visa policy continues to be open
Vietnam tourism has made impressive progress in the last months of 2023. However, this number is still modest compared to the pre-pandemic period.
Recently, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proposed adjusting the target of the total number of international tourists to Vietnam in 2023 from 12 - 13 million. This adjustment is an increase compared to the previous target of welcoming 8 million international tourists. Domestic tourists reached 102 million; total revenue from tourists is about 650,000 billion VND.
By 2025, the tourism industry will fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, welcoming at least 35 million international visitors and 120 million domestic visitors. And by 2030, Vietnam aims to welcome 50 million international visitors and 160 million domestic visitors.
At the national online conference "Developing Vietnam's tourism quickly and sustainably" held in mid-November 2023, experts said that Vietnam still needs to continue to facilitate international tourists in immigration management, electronic visas, and the duration of unilateral visa exemptions...
In fact, despite the increase in international tourist arrivals, many tourist destinations across the country are still deserted. Hotels and resorts have not yet reached their expected occupancy rates even though it is the peak season.
