Promoting the opening of the Japanese tourist market

Japan is one of the key markets for Vietnamese tourism. However, due to the lack of direct flights, the number of visitors from the land of cherry blossoms to Khanh Hoa is still quite modest. Implementing the orientation of diversifying the international tourist market, Khanh Hoa tourism industry is making efforts to connect and promote to attract Japanese visitors.

Great potential

Japan has always been a key tourist market for Vietnam tourism . After the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of Japanese visitors to Vietnam gradually increased again. According to statistics from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in 2024, Vietnam welcomed about 711,000 Japanese visitors (ranked 5th among international tourist markets for Vietnam tourism). With that growth momentum, in the first 5 months of 2025, Vietnam welcomed 342,156 Japanese visitors, an increase of 18.3% over the same period in 2024.

Leaders of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism worked with a delegation from Narita Airport (Tokyo, Japan) to discuss expanding the Japanese tourist market.

Japanese tourists appreciate destinations with good service quality, beautiful natural landscapes, cultural depth and rich cuisine . Khanh Hoa fully meets those criteria with a diverse tourism ecosystem: Sea, islands, high-class resorts, international standard golf courses, cultural relics, rich cuisine. However, the number of Japanese tourists to Khanh Hoa is very modest. According to statistics from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (VH-TT-DL), in 2024, Khanh Hoa welcomed only 16,269 Japanese visitors. In the first 5 months of 2025, the province welcomed more than 2.2 million international visitors, of which only 7,000 came from Japan. The biggest reason why Khanh Hoa tourism has not attracted many Japanese visitors is that there are no direct flights. Japanese tourists also do not know much about Khanh Hoa tourism. “A direct flight from Narita Airport (Tokyo, Japan) to Cam Ranh only takes about 5 hours. But when passengers transfer via Ho Chi Minh City, it takes up to 8 hours, which is a huge minus point,” said Mr. Cung Quynh Anh - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

At a recent working session with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Narita Airport delegation highly appreciated the attractiveness of Khanh Hoa tourism. “Khanh Hoa has very good hotels, diverse and rich cuisine, convenient transportation (from Nha Trang) that can connect with many surrounding tourist destinations. If the direct flight problem is resolved, Khanh Hoa will be the gateway to attract Japanese tourists to Vietnam in the near future,” said Mr. Akira Archie Mori - Senior Advisor of the Narita Airport Aviation Sales and Marketing Department.

Removing bottlenecks in flight routes, promoting communication

According to the assessment of the leaders of the Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association, the potential to exploit the Japanese tourist market is still very large. The evidence is that Da Nang opened a flight route connecting to major cities in Japan after Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but it is being exploited very well and has high growth. That shows that the opportunity for Khanh Hoa to exploit the Japanese tourist market is still very large. Japanese tourists love golf, relaxation, exploration, learning about culture and cuisine, so it is very suitable for Khanh Hoa tourism products, especially now that the province has an additional southern region that has many resources for cultural tourism. “Khanh Hoa Tourism Industry has a lot of experience in welcoming visitors from Northeast Asian countries such as Korea, China, Taiwan (China)… The temperature, weather, and flight times of Japan are similar to those of Korea, so there are no obstacles. With direct flights and a well-planned strategy, Khanh Hoa can completely become a new favorite destination for Japanese visitors in Vietnam, alongside Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang,” said Mr. Nguyen Quang Thang - Permanent Vice President of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association.

Japanese tourists love to visit Hoi An ancient town and Da Nang.

One advantage is that not only Japanese tourists love Vietnam, but Vietnamese people also love traveling to Japan. In 2024, there will be about 621,100 Vietnamese visitors to Japan (the highest ever), an increase of 8.2% compared to 2023. Mr. Doan Hai Quan - Director of Vietravel Khanh Hoa Branch said that in recent years, although there are no direct flights, Vietravel Khanh Hoa has coordinated with partners to organize 7 charter flights to bring tourists from Khanh Hoa and neighboring localities to travel to the cities of Osaka, Nagoya, and Sizuoka in Japan; bring Japanese tourists to travel to Khanh Hoa. Although Japanese tourists have strict service standards, they tend to travel for experiences and stay for a long time, and have high spending, so exploiting them will be very beneficial. In the immediate future, airlines need to proactively coordinate with tourism businesses to organize more charter flights and then open commercial flights from Japan to Khanh Hoa in the near future.

According to tourism experts, the Japanese tourist market is both an opportunity and a challenge for Khanh Hoa tourism, requiring all parties to coordinate synchronously, persistently and creatively to achieve sustainable results. In addition to working with airports and airlines to promote the opening of flight routes, Khanh Hoa tourism needs to step up promotion and communication activities to attract Japanese visitors. In particular, Khanh Hoa tourism needs to proactively invite major travel agencies, reporters, and Japanese tourism KOLs to experience Khanh Hoa tourism to create a widespread impact. At the same time, it is necessary to promote the image of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa on digital media platforms in a vivid and accessible way. Khanh Hoa tourism also needs to survey and research, thereby building tourism products specifically for Japanese visitors such as: Golf tours combined with resorts, Cham - Vietnamese culture discovery tours, local culinary tours, therapeutic resorts, health care, etc.

Mr. Cung Quynh Anh said that at the working session with the delegation of Narita airport, the provincial leaders were very interested in opening a direct flight from Japan to Cam Ranh. In the near future, the Provincial People's Committee will have a working session with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association, Cam Ranh International Airport, Cam Ranh International Terminal Joint Stock Company... to find solutions to soon realize the opening of a direct flight from Japan to Cam Ranh. In the immediate future, the province proposed that Narita airport support the promotion of Khanh Hoa tourism to attract more Japanese visitors to the province. The leaders of the Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association also said that they are ready to welcome famtrip delegations of Japanese travel agencies to survey Khanh Hoa tourism in the near future.

XUAN THANH

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/du-lich/202507/xuc-tien-khai-mo-thi-truong-khach-nhat-ban-0f424df/