Published on : Friday, January 18, 2019
In 2018, international arrivals to Vietnam reached 15.5 million, up 2.7 million compared to 2017, while domestic tourists grew by 6.8 million compared to 2017, to an estimated 80 million in 2018. The visitors coming by airways increased by 14.4 percent in 2018, while arrivals by road increased by almost 60 percent, and by seaway decreased by 16.8 percent.
Vietnam, recently named the “Asia’s Leading Destination” for the first time at the 2018 World Travel Awards, offers a variety of options for tourists such as cultural and historical tours, sea-based tours, adventure tours, eco-tours, and luxurious vacations.
In 2018, Ho Chi Minh City led among all the cities and provinces with 36.5 million visitors, which included 7.5 million international and 29 million domestic visitors. Hanoi, the capital, attracted 28 million tourists, including 5.5 million international tourists. Both cities also recently featured amongst the top 10 most dynamic growing cities in the world in JLL’s Short-Term City Momentum Index (CMI) 2019. Quang Ninh, a northeastern coastal province, emerged as one of the new destinations in 2018, attracting 12.5 million tourists, including 5.3 million international visitors. In addition, Da Nang, one of the largest city in Vietnam attracted 7.7 million tourists, including three million international tourists.
Other major destinations include Hoi An, a well preserved historical trading port and Phu Quoc, the largest island in Vietnam. In 2018, the number of visitors from Asia increased by 23.7 percent compared to 2017 to 12.1 million. China accounted for the majority at 4.96 million, up 23.9 percent, while the number of South Korean visitors increased the highest at 44.3 percent compared to 2017 to 3.48 million. The visitors from Europe and America increased by 8.1 percent and 10.6 percent, to 2.1 million and 903,800 respectively. The tourists from Australia increased by only four percent in 2018 to 437,800, while inbound tourists from Africa witnessed a growth of 19.2 percent to 42,800.
The number of visitors from only two countries witnessed a decline in 2018. Cambodia and Laos, both neighboring countries witnessed a decline of 8.8 percent and 15.2 percent respectively.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the foreign visitors on an average spend $900 on a trip to Vietnam, compared to US$1,105, US$1,109 and US$1,565 spent in Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand respectively. Unlike Singapore and Malaysia, Vietnam’s tourism industry has been unable to develop its infrastructure in line with the rapid growth in the tourism industry and establish itself as a shopping destination or a hub for nightlife activities, which has an impact on its revenue.