(To Quoc) - According to data released by the General Statistics Office, the number of international visitors to Vietnam in January 2025 reached nearly 2.1 million, an increase of 18.5% over the previous month and an increase of 36.9% over the same period in 2024. This is a new record for Vietnam's tourism industry, surpassing the figure of nearly 2 million international visitors in January 2020. Compared to the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, the number of visitors in January 2025 was 37.8% higher.
High efficiency from the policy of extending temporary residence period and visa exemption
China has returned to being the number 1 market sending visitors to Vietnam Tourism with 575 thousand arrivals, accounting for 27.7%. This figure is much higher than the same period in January 2029 (reaching 373.5 thousand arrivals), an increase of 54%.
South Korea ranked second, reaching 417 thousand arrivals (accounting for 20.1%). Cambodia ranked third (100 thousand arrivals), the US ranked fourth (93 thousand arrivals), Taiwan (China) ranked fifth (91 thousand arrivals). Followed by Japan, Australia, India, Malaysia and Thailand.
2.1 million international visitors to Vietnam in January 2025
The impressive recovery of the Chinese market is thanks to a series of activities to connect and open up the market, and enhance cooperation and exchange of tourists between authorities, localities, and businesses of Vietnam and China.
In particular, in November 2024, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized a program to introduce Vietnamese culture and tourism in Chongqing and Kunming, and were honored to welcome Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to attend and give a speech to further promote cultural and tourism exchanges between the two countries.
In addition, the rise of the Cambodian market is also a highlight. In 2024, there were 475 thousand visitors from Cambodia, and in January 2025 alone, there were about 100 thousand visitors from this market, bringing Cambodia from 9th to 3rd place in the top 10 leading markets.
The main growth drivers in January 2025 came from the large Chinese market, up 137.4% over the same period in 2024; Cambodia increased sharply by 168.6%, the US increased by 22.3%; Japan increased by 19.3%; Taiwan increased by 8.5%; Australia increased by 7.1%, India increased by 5.2%.
There was also growth from markets near Southeast Asia such as the Philippines (+104.9%), Laos (+99.4%), and Indonesia (+7.5%).
January 2025 continued to witness positive growth from European markets with unilateral visa exemptions, including Russia (+116.8%), the UK (+13.8%), France (+16.1%), Germany (+22.9%). In addition, there were Italy (+21.8%), Spain (+7.2%), Denmark (+17.8%), Norway (+35.6%), Sweden (+31.8%).
The growth from these markets continues to show high efficiency from the policy of increasing the temporary stay period from 15 days to 45 days for 13 countries with unilateral visa exemption according to Resolution 128/NQ-CP of the Government, effective from August 15, 2023.
Continued momentum to drive growth in 2025
Welcoming a record number of nearly 2.1 million visitors in the first month of 2025 is the result of the efforts of the entire Vietnamese tourism industry over the past time, in the context of the Asian tourism industry recovering at a lower rate than other regions in the world.
In particular, the outstanding mark is the work of advising on the development of institutions and policies. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have submitted to the Government and the Prime Minister documents and resolutions to facilitate tourism development.
Along with that is the effort to innovate tourism promotion and advertising in terms of market, content, method, scale, exploiting public-private partnership mechanism, active participation of localities, associations, and enterprises. Developing new products suitable to the country's potential strengths and the needs and tastes of tourists after the pandemic such as agricultural tourism, railway tourism, night tourism, health care, resorts...
Digital communication and promotion activities continue to be promoted, contributing to spreading the tourism brand and attracting international visitors to Vietnam. Expanding cooperation in bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms is also a highlight contributing to enhancing the presence of Vietnamese tourism in the region and the world.
State management has been strengthened to ensure the tourism business environment, product and service quality, and safety and security for tourists to feel secure when visiting and experiencing Vietnam.
At the regular Government meeting for January 2025 held on February 5, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the service and tourism sectors are one of the two main driving forces that need to be focused on promoting.
The Prime Minister assessed that in 2024, Vietnam's tourism had a strong recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, creating an important foundation to continue achieving high growth in 2025. The Prime Minister directed that it is necessary to promote the improvement of tourism products, while researching and supplementing support solutions to attract international tourists.
One of the important measures is to improve visa policy, including considering temporary visa exemptions for certain groups of tourists, to create more favorable conditions to encourage international visitors to come to Vietnam and stay longer.
It is expected that with the deep concern of the Government and the Prime Minister, the support and close coordination of ministries, branches and localities, and the efforts of the entire tourism industry, in 2025, Vietnam Tourism will continue to promote the positive achievements of the past time, striving to complete the goal of welcoming 22-23 million international visitors.
Source: https://toquoc.vn/du-lich-viet-nam-dat-ky-luc-moi-ve-khach-quoc-te-dong-luc-tiep-tuc-thuc-day-tang-truong-nam-2025-20250207092638363.htm
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