The General Statistics Office (GSO) reported that 916,300 foreign travelers came to Vietnam in May, a 6.9 percent decrease compared with the previous month and 5.3 times higher than the same period last year. 

The decrease in the number of foreign travelers was foreseeable as it was the low inbound season. As such, in the first five months of the year, Vietnam received nearly 4.6 million foreign travelers, 12.6 times higher than the same period last year, but just 63 percent of the same period in 2019. 

As for domestic travelers, the number was 12.5 million in May and 50.5 million in the first five months. The total revenue from travelers was estimated at VND267.2 trillion.

Of the total 4.6 million foreign travelers to Vietnam in the first five months of the year, 1.3 million were from South Korea. The country has become the largest inbound market for Vietnam.

The second position in the list of biggest markets belonged to China with 146,755 travelers in May, which showed a positive recovery with a growth rate of 31 percent compared with the month before (nearly 112,000). 

As such, in the first five months of the year, there were 400,000 Chinese tourist arrivals.

However, the achievement remained unsatisfactory. In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of Chinese travelers to Vietnam was 427,788 travelers in May and 2.1 million in the first five months.

Meanwhile, Thailand has been succeeding in luring Chinese travelers. Bloomberg on May 28 reported that the number of Chinese travelers to Thailand has exceeded 1 million so far this year.

This was attributed to the sharp rise (98 percent) in the number of flights from China to Thailand compared with last year, with 12,805 flights from October 2022 to April 2023, according to Thai Government spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri.

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the country has raised the target of receiving Chinese travelers to 6-7 million this year from the initially planned of 5 million.

China is among the top five countries with highest numbers of tourists to Thailand. The other four include Malaysia, Russia, South Korea and India. 

Ngoc Ha