VNAT reported that Vietnam received 12.5 million foreign travelers in 2023, or 1.5 times higher than planned (8 million). However, the figure is just equal to 69 percent of that in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to VNAT deputy head Pham Van Thuy, Vietnam strived for 8 million foreign travelers in 2023, but the figure was reached by the end of October, up 17 percent compared with the same period last year.

VNAT has boldly set the goal of attracting 18 million foreign travelers in 2024, which means a full recovery to a pre-Covid level.

“I hope the goal is attainable, because we have an open visa policy, and local authorities have paid attention to developing infrastructure and accommodations, and travel firms have vowed to attract more travelers and are ready to join forces to create attractive tourism products,” Thuy said.

Nguyen Cong Hoan, CEO of Flamingo Redtours, thinks that Vietnam has opportunities to attract 18-20 million foreign travelers in 2024, especially when the visa policy has become more open. After the Immigration Law took effect (August 15), the number of foreign travelers increased sharply.

Hoan is optimistic about tourism prospects in 2024 because of the great success in diplomatic activities in 2023, which helped popularize Vietnamese images around the world.

The official visits to Vietnam by countries’ presidents and their unprecedented activities of drinking coffee, riding bikes, and walking and sitting to enjoy the landscapes at Hoan Kiem Lake all brought advantages for Vietnam to advertise its tourism.

Prior to that, when talking about goal setting for 2024, Tran The Dung, CEO of Vietluxtour, affirmed that Vietnam can attract 18 million foreign travelers, and that VNAT would ‘play it safe’ when setting the modest goal of 15-16 million foreign travelers.

Meanwhile, Cao Tri Dung, chair of the Da Nang Tourism Association, while advocating the plan to receive 18 million foreign travelers in 2024, has warned that the goal is challenging. 

Da Nang, a famous tourism destination, received only 5.6 million domestic travelers and 2 million foreign travelers in 2023. While the number of domestic travelers in 2023 exceeded that of 2019, the number was 60 percent of the 3.5 million in 2019.

Chinese market

The biggest challenge, according to experts, is the decrease in the number of Chinese travelers, from 5 million in 2019 to 1.5 million in 2023. In order to attract 18 million foreign travelers, it is necessary to recover at least 50-60 percent of Chinese travelers and travelers from loyal markets.

But travel firms believe the Chinese market cannot recover quickly, and that it is better to expand to other markets.

Vietnam’s tourism will still have to rely on Northeast Asian markets such as South Korea, Japan and Taiwan (China), and Southeast Asian markets including Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It also can expect to receive travelers by land from Cambodia and Laos.

Moreover, travel firms should target markets such as Europe and North America, and emerging South Asian markets such as India, with the hope of attracting 1 million travelers next year.

In addition to Hanoi and HCM City, which are the major tourism markets, Dung proposed more investment in resources, products and tourism promotion for Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc Island and Quang Ninh province as well. These are gateways highly capable of receiving travelers.

Also, local authorities need to prepare new tourism products that offer interesting experiences to attract independent travelers through smart platforms.

Nguyen Duc Chi, a tourism expert, said it would take time to recover the Chinese market. It would be better to learn about South Korean travelers to exploit the Korean market more effectively. The number of Korean travelers to Vietnam in 2024 may exceed that of 2019. The same is expected to occur with the Indian market.

As 13 European countries benefit from Vietnam’s policy on visa waivers and an increase in the number of days they can stay in Vietnam, the number of travelers from these markets rose sharply in the first 11 months of 2023, including France (up 72.5 percent), the UK (38.6 percent), Germany (55 percent) and Northern European countries (33-84 percent).

Ngoc Ha