Vietnam ranks the 10th among 20 most favorite countries in 2019 by the US-based Condé Nast Traveler, a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine.  

The ranking is based on annual Readers’ Choice Awards survey in which the travel magazine asked readers to rate their favorite countries around the world and attracted a record 600,000 votes. 

The listing, released Wednesday [October 16], covers a scoring system representing overall average levels of satisfaction. 

Vietnam got 90.46 scores, staying behind Southeast Asian neighbors such as Indonesia (the 1st) with 92.78, Thailand (2nd) with 92.37 and the Philippines (9th) with 90.63.

Vietnam has appeared among the world’s most favorite destinations as the country is the only Southeast Asian country among the world’s 10 fastest growing travel destinations, according to a UN report released last month.

Meanwhile, the latest World Travel Awards has chosen the country as “Asia’s Leading Culinary Destination” reaffirming the growing international reputation of its cuisine, VnExpress reported.

In the biennial Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report by the World Economic Forum, the country has improved its tourism competitiveness ranking to 63rd out of 140 countries and territories in 2019, jumping four places from 67th in 2017.

Earlier this year, the Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2019-2023 report by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) said Vietnam would lead Asia-Pacific destinations in terms of average annual growth over the next five years.

The number of international visitors to the country has risen consistently for the last three years, soaring from 10 million in 2016 to 15.6 million in 2018, statistics by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism showed. 

In the first nine months of this year 12.9 million foreigners came to Vietnam, up 10.8% on year. Hanoitimes

Linh Pham