Published on : Saturday, January 19, 2019
With over 3000 kilometres of coastline, pristine beaches, dynamic growing cities, mountainous highlands, and diverse cultural and historic sites the country is a booming tourism hub. Since 2010, the number of international tourists has grown three-fold from 5 million to more than 15 million in 2018.
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.
Visitors coming by airways increased by 14.4 per cent in 2018, while arrivals by road increased by almost 60 per cent, and by seaway decreased by 16.8 per cent.
Vietnam, recently named “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.
Visitors from Europe and America increased by 8.1 per cent and 10.6 per cent, to 2.1 million and 903,800 respectively. Tourists from Australia increased by only four per cent in 2018 to 437,800, while inbound tourists from Africa witnessed a growth of 19.2 per cent to 42,800.
The number of visitors from only two countries witnessed a decline in 2018. Cambodia and Laos, both neighbouring countries witnessed a decline of 8.8 per cent and 15.2 per cent respectively.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), 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.
The number of international tourists in Vietnam increased three-fold from just five million in 2010 to 15 million by 2018. Despite this rapid growth, there is room for further expansion in the sector, which is currently restrained by issues such as infrastructure, human resources, airport capacity, and branding.
The tourism labour productivity in Vietnam is VND77 million (US$3,297) per worker, which is around 40 per cent and 45 per cent of Thailand’s and Malaysia’s productivity, respectively. The Philippines is the only country in the region with slightly lower productivity than Vietnam.
The tourism industry has developed so rapidly in the last few years that qualified labour has been unable to serve the growing number of tourists. Tourism schools in Vietnam account for only 60 per cent of the industry’s demand, which has led to a shortage of qualified workers.
The country has more than 14,800 international and 8,600 domestic guides, with most of them based out of only the major tourist destinations. The ratio between the number of tourists and guides in Vietnam is almost double the international average.
Spending in Vietnam continues to be one of the lowest in the region, unlike Malaysia and Singapore which are promoted as shopping, leisure, or entertainment destinations.
In 2019, the country expects to attract 103 million visitors, including 18 million foreign and 85 million domestic visitors, an increase of 15 and six per cent respectively, compared to 2018.
By 2025, the government aims to generate US$45 billion in revenue from the tourism industry, increase the sector’s contribution to the GDP to over 10 per cent, and account for over six million direct and indirect jobs.
In addition to infrastructure and labour, the government also needs to develop tourism products, conduct international marketing campaigns, and build brand awareness to increase revenue.
Tags: Tourism in Vietnam