Since July, the number of Indian travelers to Vietnam monthly has exceeded the average level of 2019. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has cited statistics from the General Statistics Office (GSO) reporting 20,681 Indian travelers in October, an increase of 38 percent over September and 25.8 percent over the same period in 2019. In the first 10 months of 2022, the total number of Indian travelers to Vietnam reached 82,066, with a monthly average growth rate of 51 percent.

This is a positive sign, noting that the number of foreign travelers to Vietnam in the first 10 months of the year was only 2.3 million, or less than 50 percent of the target set by VNAT (5 million) for 2022. China and Russia, the traditional markets for Vietnam’s tourism, were nearly frozen with the numbers of travelers falling by 98 percent and 92 percent, respectively. Tourists from Taiwan (China) also dropped by 82 percent and from Japan 73 percent.

Vietnam has organized events to promote tourism in India. Many non-stop air routes between the large cities of the two countries have been opened. Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet and Indigo are exploiting dozens of air routes. With 21 non-stop air routes and over 60 flights a week, transport between Vietnam and India has become more convenient.

On VNAT’s website that advertises Vietnam’s tourism, the number of hits from international markets account for 88.3 percent. Of these, hits from India rank second with 16.6 percent, just after the US (23.9 percent). This shows increasingly high attention from the world's second most populous country.

India also belongs to the group of top 10 countries with the highest number of searches about Vietnam’s tourism, according to Google Destination Insights. The searches from India increased rapidly, with the figure in October tripling that of July 2022 and doubling that of August 2022. 

The destinations in Vietnam that Indian travelers search for the most are Hanoi, HCM City, Phu Quoc, Da Nang and Quy Nhon.

India has about 200-300 million people in the middle class who have high demand for shopping and entertainment services. They like beautiful resorts and are  willing to spend big money on food and parties. However, Indians can be difficult to please as they attach much importance to culture and religion.

According to UNWTO, in January 2020, in 2019, Indians spent $22.9 billion traveling abroad, while the figure is expected to rise to $42 billion by 2024.

Ngoc Ha