Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the Cultural - Tourism Festival in Yunnan, China. Photo: Viet Hung
Adapt flexibly, gradually overcome the Covid-19 pandemic
In the period 2015 - 2019, the number of international visitors to Vietnam increased 2.3 times from 7.9 million (2015) to 18 million (2019), achieving an average growth of 22.7%/year, among the destinations with the highest growth rate in the world according to the report of the United Nations Tourism Organization.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic occurred globally, the Vietnamese tourism industry faced unprecedented difficulties, tourism activities were stagnant, and the supply chain was broken. Everything almost returned to zero. Since the end of March 2020, Vietnam has temporarily stopped receiving international visitors to prevent the epidemic. Domestic tourism activities have been slow and often interrupted by outbreaks. At its peak, up to 90-95% of tourism businesses had to stop operating, and many workers in the tourism industry were forced to change jobs.
During that challenging period, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and the entire tourism industry promptly and flexibly adapted, implementing many solutions such as applying technology to support safe tourism, promoting communication and promotion on digital platforms, accelerating digital transformation... Thanks to that, domestic tourism activities were still maintained to a certain extent while ensuring safety against the epidemic.
At the same time, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism also proactively advised competent authorities to issue many practical policies such as: financial support for tour guides affected by the epidemic, reducing electricity prices, electricity bills, taxes for tourism businesses, reducing fees, fees for appraisal of travel business licenses, reducing deposits of travel businesses... From there, businesses and workers in the tourism industry gradually overcame difficulties and restored operations.
Vietnam tourism recovers best in Southeast Asia
Vietnam officially reopened to restore tourism activities under new normal conditions from March 15, 2022. This is the first step in rebuilding Vietnam's tourism industry after the pandemic and has brought about remarkable achievements.
Number of international visitors to Vietnam strong recovery. In 2022, Vietnam welcomed 3.7 million international visitors (equivalent to 20% compared to 2019), by 2023 it had recovered 70% with 12.6 million. By the end of 2024, the number of international visitors reached 17.6 million, recovering 98% compared to 2019. This is the best recovery rate in Southeast Asia, much higher than other competitors such as Thailand (88%), Singapore and Indonesia (86%), Philippines (72%)... In the context of the slow recovery of the tourism industry in Asia in general and Southeast Asia in particular, Vietnam is a bright spot on the regional tourism map, receiving many positive reviews from international media agencies.
Besides, the spectacular growth of domestic tourist market is proof of the correct orientation of the national tourism agency, taking the domestic market as a fulcrum to maintain and recover operations after the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, the number of domestic visitors reached 101.3 million, surpassing the record of 85 million in 2019, and continued to increase to 108 million in 2023 and 110 million in 2024.
With the recovery of tourism activities, the number of travel agencies and tour guides returning to the market has increased sharply, as well as more tourist accommodation establishments being put into operation. By the end of 2024, the country will have 4,170 international travel agencies, 40,720 tour guides, 280 5-star accommodation establishments with 60,190 rooms and 356 4-star accommodation establishments with 49,466 rooms.
Total tourism revenue continuously growing, reaching 495 trillion VND in 2022, 678 trillion VND in 2023 and 840 trillion VND in 2024. Tourism is considered by the Government to be a bright spot in the overall socio -economic picture of the country. The growth of tourism has a strong spillover effect on the development of many other industries and fields.
Continuing the growth momentum, in the first 5 months of 2025, Vietnam attracted over 9.2 million international visitors, an increase of 21.3% over the same period in 2024; served 61.5 million domestic visitors, total tourism revenue reached 418 trillion VND. Notably, despite being in the low tourist season, in May 2025, international visitors to Vietnam still reached 1.53 million, the highest in many years. Many experts in the tourism industry believe that this is a positive signal to expect a breakthrough in the international market in the peak months at the end of the year to realize the goal of welcoming 22-23 million international visitors this year.
What drives Vietnam tourism growth?
Vietnam tourism has achieved many good results, is a bright spot in the socio-economic picture as well as a bright spot in the leadership and management of the Government, this is also the result of great efforts of the entire tourism industry in many different fields.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism signed a cooperation agreement to develop agricultural tourism with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment).
Regarding policy and institutional development , the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in its role as a state management agency, has advised all levels to issue many documents to create a favorable legal corridor for tourism development. Notably, the Government has issued open policies on visas and immigration, which are important catalysts to attract international visitors from all over the world to Vietnam.
Along with that is Resolution 82/NQ-CP on key tasks and solutions to accelerate recovery and accelerate effective and sustainable tourism development; Directive 08/CT-TTg on comprehensive, fast and sustainable tourism development in the coming time; Official Dispatch 06/CD-TTg on improving the effectiveness of tourism statistics; Official Dispatch 34/CD-TTg on promoting tourism development, ensuring double-digit economic growth; Planning the Vietnam tourism system for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2045; Officially applying retail electricity prices for tourist accommodation establishments equivalent to manufacturing industries... Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh personally chaired 3 major conferences on tourism, demonstrating the interest and high expectations of the head of the Government for the tourism industry.
Signing ceremony of the letter of exchange of Swiss tourism projects for sustainable development in Vietnam
State management work has been strengthened to create a healthy and orderly tourism business environment. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has organized many working groups to inspect the compliance with legal regulations in the tourism sector in many localities nationwide. At the same time, advise the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to issue circulars on economic and technical norms in the industry; programs, plans, and projects on the development of night tourism, community tourism; smart tourism, application of technology to support tourism, tourism marketing strategies, ... organize connections, form and promote the effectiveness of inter-regional cooperation models between localities in developing tourism products.
Director Nguyen Trung Khanh received Secretary of Chongzuo City Party Committee, China to discuss cooperation in tourism development
Another bright spot is c promotion work There has been a breakthrough innovation with new models, creative and effective methods, promoting the public-private partnership mechanism, combining resources from the state budget and mobilizing socialized resources. For the first time, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized the Vietnam Tourism - Cinema Promotion Program in Hollywood, the United States and then the Vietnam Tourism - Cinema Introduction Program at the Cannes Film Festival, France, opening a new direction in promoting the country's tourism through cinema.
The scale, quantity, frequency and scope of promotional activities have been enhanced, especially in Vietnam's key markets such as China, Korea, Japan, Australia, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, etc. In particular, the program to introduce Vietnamese tourism and culture in China and Korea was honored to welcome Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to attend and give a speech.
Work digital media increasingly strong, spreading the image and brand of Vietnamese tourism to the world. The website promoting Vietnamese tourism abroad of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism rose to 2nd place in Southeast Asia according to the global website rankings. The program "Vietnam: Go to Love!" was honored to win Second Prize (2022) and Third Prize (2024) at the National Award for Foreign Information. Digital transformation activities continue to go into depth, forming a smart tourism ecosystem in a synchronous and unified direction according to the Government's orientation.
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism organizes Vietnam tourism promotion in Germany
Along with that, tourism products and services system increasingly rich and diverse. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) have signed a cooperation agreement to develop agricultural and rural tourism in Vietnam; the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and Vietnam Railways Corporation have signed a cooperation agreement to promote railway tourism in the new period. New tourism products such as health care, golf tourism, sports tourism, music tourism... are increasingly popular. Night tourism products are effectively exploited, with the exploitation of traditional and modern cultural values based on the application of new technologies such as 3D Mapping, light shows, virtual reality, augmented reality...
It can be said that the period of 2020 - 2025 witnessed the remarkable efforts of the Vietnamese tourism industry. Not only has it recovered successfully, but Vietnamese tourism has truly risen to a new level, receiving the love and recognition of tourists from all over the world and international award organizations and press over the past time. In the coming time, the entire industry will focus on implementing solutions to accelerate tourism development, contributing to the realization of the economic growth target of 8% in 2025 and double digits in the following years set by the Government, firmly entering a new era, truly developing into a spearhead economic sector that meets the expectations of the Party, the State and the whole society.
Tourist Information Center
Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/du-lich-viet-nam-vuot-kho-vung-buoc-tien-vao-ky-nguyen-moi-20250708080559564.htm
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