Luxury cruise ship Le Lapérouse carried 90 international travelers to Sai Gon Port in HCM City earlier this month. This was the first international cruise ship to return to Vietnam after two years of Covid-19.

On October 7, 2022, the 5-star Mekong Princess docked at Ninh Kieu Wharf, bringing travelers from New Zealand to the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on its itinerary along the Mekong River for eight days and seven nights.

The high season of domestic tourism has ended, and it is now time to carry out activities to promote inbound tourists and prepare to receive foreign travelers in the last three months.

Saingontourist reported that foreign travelers have returned to Vietnam, mostly from Europe, Australia and the US. The firm serves 30,000 travelers a year who arrive by air or sea. In 2022-2023, it plans to receive 23 international cruise ships with about 22,550 American travelers.

Tran Quoc Khanh, chairman of the Tourism Association of Kien Giang Province, cited a report from the General Statistics Office (GSO) as saying that Vietnam had received 1.8 million foreign travelers, including 600,000 in Q2 and 1.2 million in Q3. Notably, domestic travel firms have attracted travelers from some new markets.

Anex Tour said that instead of Russian travelers, it plans to receive travelers from Kazakhstan and some East European countries in late October. It is expected that from now to April 2023, there will be two flights from Almaty to Cam Ranh a week and each flight will bring 180-200 travelers. Some East European and Russian travelers will transit in Kazakhstan before flying to Vietnam.

Nguyen Vu Khac Huy, CEO of Vina Phu Quoc Travel, told VietNamNet that the company is in discussion with many partners from India, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and Mongolia.

“We are receiving guests from India, and from other markets as many non-stop air routes to Phu Quoc have opened. Domestic travelers also want to travel these days. The number of travelers is increasing day by day,” he said. 

India has climbed to the 16th position in the number of travelers to Vietnam. This has been one of the fastest recovering markets after the pandemic, but the number of Indian tourists was only 61,300 in January-September 2022, compared to 169,000 in 2019. With the opening of 21 non-stop air routes and over 60 flights a week, the number of Indian travelers is expected to increase rapidly.

Luring foreign travelers 

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Vietnam is among the destinations with the highest growth rate, 50-75 percent. International searches about Vietnam’s tourism in July 2022 rocketed by up to 1,200 compared to the same month of last year.

However, the number of foreign travelers to Vietnam so far this year is just one-third of the 5 million targeted by the tourism industry, and one-tenth of the figure for 2019.

Tran Thi Bao Thu from Fidtour - Vietluxtour said that international tourists mostly go in small groups of 20-30. She believed the last quarter would be an important time for travel firms and hotels to lure foreign travelers.

To attract foreign visitors, travel firms have proposed expanding the countries eligible for visa exemption and visa waivers from 15 days to 30 days. 

Vietnam unilaterally waives visas for citizens of 13 countries and bilaterally waves visas for citizens from 12 others, with a waiver time of 15 days. However, Thailand waives visas for up to 70 countries, and the waiver time is 30-45 days.

Pham Hong Long, Dean of the Tourism Faculty of the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, suggested that the visa waiver policy should target potential markets such as India, Australia and the Middle East. 

“Vietnam should also consider visa waivers for travelers from the US and Canada, growing markets, with non-stop air routes,” said Pham Ha, President of Lux Group.

Tran Chung