Bright spots on all "fronts"
Celebrating the 65th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam's tourism industry (July 9, 1960 - July 9, 2025), this year marks a special milestone when Vietnam has continuously achieved impressive leaps in the international arena. In June alone, the number of international visitors to Vietnam reached nearly 1.5 million, an increase of 17% over the same period last year, contributing to the total number of visitors in the first 6 months of the year reaching nearly 10.7 million, an increase of 20.7% over the same period last year and completing about 50% of the growth target for the whole year 2025.
Foreign tourists visit downtown Ho Chi Minh City
Photo: Nhat Thinh
According to the comparison of the National Tourism Administration, the number of visitors in the first 6 months of 2025 is higher than the total number of visitors in 2016 (10 million) and exceeds by more than 25.7% compared to the same period in 2019 - the golden time of tourism before the Covid-19 pandemic.
In terms of market size, China continues to be Vietnam's largest tourist market in the first half of 2025 with 2.7 million arrivals (accounting for 25.6%). On the contrary, Thailand is witnessing a sharp decline in the number of Chinese visitors. In 2024, Thailand welcomed nearly double the number of Chinese visitors compared to Vietnam. However, by the end of the first 5 months of this year, Chinese visitors to Thailand accounted for less than 14% of total international visitors, a sharp decrease compared to 28% before the Covid-19 pandemic and 19% in 2024. This is also one of the important factors that causes the number of international tourists to Thailand in the first half of 2025 to decrease by 4.2% compared to the same period last year, reaching 16 million arrivals, according to a recent announcement from the Thai Ministry of Sports and Tourism.
If Vietnam continues to increase and Thailand continues to decrease like this, from now until the end of the year, Vietnam can completely "defeat" Thailand, take the position of the largest destination for Chinese tourists in ASEAN and in the next 2-3 years can surpass Thailand in the total number of international tourists.
Vietnam tourism is witnessing breakthroughs
Photo: NA
The concerns of Thai tourism workers are completely justified because not only Chinese tourists, the bustling return of Russian "regular guests" and the strong acceleration of a series of markets from Northeast Asia to Europe, the Middle East ... have brought Vietnam to the top of Asia in international tourism growth in the first quarter, according to the World Tourism Barometer published in May by the United Nations Tourism Organization (UN Tourism). UN Tourism's aggregated data clearly shows: In the first quarter, Vietnam led the Asia- Pacific region in international visitor growth (up 30% compared to the first quarter of 2024) and ranked second in international visitor recovery (up 34% compared to the first quarter of 2019). Globally, in the first 3 months of 2025, Vietnam ranked 6th in terms of growth in international tourist arrivals (up 30% compared to the first quarter of 2024) and ranked 4th in terms of growth in total tourism revenue (up 29% compared to the same period in 2024).
UN Tourism assesses that in the context of Asia - Pacific still facing many difficulties and finding a way to recover after Covid-19, the impressive growth of Vietnam tourism has truly become a bright spot in the region.
Domestically, tourism is also one of the 10 biggest bright spots contributing to the record high GDP growth in the first 6 months. According to the General Statistics Office, increased foreign trade, transportation, and tourism activities contributed 8.14% of added value to economic growth in the first 6 months of the year compared to the same period last year. Economic experts forecast that tourism demand in the last 6 months of the year will continue to increase, leading to shopping, consumption of goods, and stimulate more spending on services. Tourism will continue to be the pillar driving GDP growth to reach the target of 8% this year.
Tourists spent more
The contribution of tourism to Vietnam's economic growth shows that tourism is increasingly playing its role as a comprehensive economic sector with strong spillover effects. The change of Vietnam from a low-cost tourist destination to a "magnet" attracting luxury tourists, along with the orientation of tourism development shifting from quantity to quality, is clearly demonstrated through the growth of tourism revenue of localities.
For example, by the end of 2024, Ho Chi Minh City welcomed 6 million international visitors and 38 million domestic visitors, bringing in more than 190,000 billion VND in tourism revenue. Meanwhile, more than 8.6 million international visitors and 32.77 million domestic visitors in 2019 only brought more than 140,000 billion VND to the city budget. Fewer visitors, but more spending. In the first 6 months of this year, Ho Chi Minh City continued to be an attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourists. In the first 6 months of the year, tourism service revenue was estimated at 23,970 billion VND, up 28.2% over the same period. Total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue increased by 15.8%, transportation revenue increased by 14.9%. In 2025, Ho Chi Minh City's tourism industry aims to welcome about 8.5 million international visitors (equivalent to 2019), 45 million domestic tourists, with estimated revenue reaching VND260,000 billion, nearly double that of 2019.
Similarly, Khanh Hoa province (old) also had a booming tourism year in 2024 when it welcomed more than 10.6 million visitors, an increase of 45.5% compared to 2023, but total revenue from tourists increased by 53.9% (exceeding the plan by 30.4%), estimated at nearly VND 52,272 billion.
Most recently, the 2024 Statistical Yearbook, just released by the Ministry of Finance, also shows a remarkable improvement in international visitors' spending when coming to Vietnam compared to the previous period. If in the 2022 Statistical Yearbook, the average spending per international visitor to Vietnam only increased slightly from 1,141.5 USD in 2017 to 1,151.8 USD in 2019, by 2023, this figure had increased sharply to 1,449.7 USD. Notably, while the accommodation, food, travel, shopping, healthcare, etc. sections did not record too many fluctuations, the other expenditure section accounted for the highest structural proportion and increased the most, from 8.1% in 2017 and 9.5% in 2019 to 18.6% in 2023. This shows that the entertainment activities that have been heavily invested in recent times in many tourist capitals are bringing many diverse and attractive experiences, stimulating tourists to "open their wallets".
Marriott International's "New Luxe Landscapes - Emerging Luxury Travel Trends in Asia Pacific" study conducted on 1,200 high net worth (HNW) travelers from Australia, Singapore, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan in late 2024 shows that 68% of travelers plan to spend more on luxury vacations in 2025. With 36% of luxury travelers planning to enjoy a coastal vacation, island resort paradises in Vietnam promise to become an ideal destination attracting the wealthy this year. In Vietnam, the growth of the middle class in major cities has become the main driving force behind the demand for luxury experiences, including luxury travel. These factors will boost tourism revenue growth strongly in the coming time.
Thanhnien.vn
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/du-lich-but-toc-dan-dau-khu-vuc-185250707235014676.htm
Comment (0)