Vietnam Welcomes Nearly 900,000 Int’l Visitors in Jan

International visitors to Vietnam in January 2023 reached 871,200, an increase of 23.2% compared to December 2022 and 44.2 times higher than the same period in 2022, according to the General Statistics Office. International arrivals to Vietnam fell 42% compared to the same month in 2019 when the COVID-19 pandemic was not started.

South Korea was still the largest tourist market for Vietnam, with 258,946 arrivals. The United States ranked second with 77,897 arrivals. Thailand ranked third with 54,985 visitors.

During the Lunar New Year (January 21-25, 2023), Hanoi was estimated to welcome 32,000 international visitors, mainly from South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Canada and France.

Khanh Hoa province welcomed 11,300 international visitors. Besides visitors from South Korea, Kazakhstan and Thailand, Chinese tourists started to return to Khanh Hoa, opening expectations for the growth of this local international tourist market that hoped to welcome 1.5 million visitors in 2023.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau served about 10,688 international visitors, including nearly 2,400 visitors arriving by sea. Ninh Binh province welcomed roughly 29,500 international tourists to visit famous attractions. Lao Cai province welcomed 3,056 international visitors.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the outperformance resulted from early cooperation between key tourism localities with airlines and travel businesses to launch a series of events to woo international tourists, thereby affirming the image of Vietnam as an attractive and safe destination.

By Giang Tu, Vietnam Business Forum