Vietnam's tourism industry continues to grow faster than Thailand's, according to a report published by Nikkei Asia. In addition, Agoda, a leading online travel company, has also observed this phenomenon.
Vietnam has now increased its share of inbound tourism in the first five months of 2023 and managed to rank third among Asian destinations, behind only Japan and Thailand. This improvement in ranking is significant, considering that Vietnam was previously ranked fifth in 2019, before the pandemic.
Omri Morgenshtern, CEO of Agoda, also revealed that more Koreans are traveling to Japan and Vietnam. He pointed out that this is due to the Korean factories that have been operating in Vietnam for the past two decades. The existence of this expatriate community has successfully spread the good word about Vietnam in their home countries.
In the first five months of 2023, Vietnam welcomed nearly 4.6 million international tourists, a number that increased 12.6 times compared to the same period last year. Data released by the General Statistics Office (GSO) also showed that the figure represents 57.5% of the full-year target for international tourist visits. With this figure, Vietnam has already reached half of its target of 8 million international tourists by 2023.
South Korea remains the main market with the highest number of visits to Vietnam, with more than 1.3 million visits. This is followed by China (nearly 399,000 visits), the United States (over 307,000 visits), and Taiwan (nearly 252,000 visits). Aside from international visits, the number of domestic visitors also reached 50.5 million during the period.
In line with the good news, Vietnam also launched various initiatives and sustainable plans to develop its tourism industry. For example, the Vietnamese government held the Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) 2023, Vietnam's leading travel trade fair and one of the most important travel exhibitions in the region, in April last year. The Vietnamese government has also launched the Vietnam Tourism Marketing Strategy to 2030 with the project "Applying Industry 4.0 Technology to Develop Smart Tourism, Making Tourism the Spearhead of the Economic Sector," as well as the development of tourism based on the Vietnamese people.
In May, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also signed Government Resolution No. 82/NQ-CP, which aims to accelerate the effective and sustainable recovery and development of tourism. This resolution includes various concrete measures to develop the tourism sector as one of the key economic sectors. It is expected that these measures will make Vietnam one of the 30 countries with the highest tourism competitiveness in the world.
Vietnam's achievements in developing its tourism sector demonstrate its attractiveness as an increasingly desirable tourist destination, with diverse experiences and rich cultures that attract travelers from around the world.
