Start attracting international visitors

Data from online travel platform Agoda shows that Vietnam is among the top 5 most popular destinations for international visitors during the Lunar New Year 2024. The top international markets during this time are South Korea, Singapore, China, Hong Kong (China) and Japan. According to data from major travel companies in South Korea such as HanaTour, Very Good Travel and Kyowon Tour Travel Easy, the number of tourists in the land of kimchi registering for tours during the Lunar New Year increased by about 50% compared to the same period last year. In particular, Phu Quoc is one of the most attractive destinations for Korean visitors during the upcoming holiday.

From the end of 2023 until now, Phu Quoc is gradually regaining its image as a resort paradise, attracting a large number of international visitors with a complex of international-class tourism masterpieces worth thousands of billions of VND such as: Vui Phet night market, Cau Hon; multimedia technology show "Kiss of the sea"... Every day, Phu Quoc airport welcomes 12-17 flights from countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Poland, USA, Mongolia... On average, every day there are over 2,000 international visitors coming to visit and relax, of which Korean visitors account for more than 50%.

Vietnam is becoming a Tet holiday destination for many international visitors.

Meanwhile, Xinhua News Agency reported that the number of Chinese tourists traveling abroad is likely to increase compared to last year, as Chinese airlines have increased more than 2,500 international flights during the Lunar New Year. Trip.com Group said that the number of Chinese outbound travel bookings during this holiday is 10 times higher than in 2023. However, the most prominent destinations include only Thailand, Japan and South Korea, with Vietnam absent.

The director of a travel agency in Ho Chi Minh City assessed that if in 2023, the tourism trend of Chinese tourists was still unpredictable and the forecast was not accurate, the situation in 2024 would be much clearer. The billion-people market has begun to shift and countries like Thailand and Singapore have also quickly launched strong policies to welcome this huge flow of tourists.

Recently, China and Singapore have approved a bilateral visa exemption from January 25, and the policy will take effect from February 9, just before the Lunar New Year. According to online travel platform Qunar, searches for hotels in Singapore have increased fourfold since the decision. Meanwhile, Tong Cheng Travel confirmed that searches for Singapore on their platform increased by 340% just one hour after the visa exemption policy was announced. Thailand is also counting on tourists from China and is not hesitating to exempt visas for this market to achieve its goal of having at least 30 million Chinese tourists by 2024, accelerating the speed of tourism recovery beyond the pre-Covid-19 mark.

"Countries have started to take action, we cannot stand still and continue to miss opportunities. China is still Vietnam's largest tourist market and is very difficult to replace. Vietnam should also pilot a visa exemption policy for Chinese visitors. It can be divided into 2 phases: From February 2024: apply to charter flights from Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Yunnan to Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai, Van Don, Cat Bi, Da Nang, Cam Ranh, Phu Quoc airports to attract visitors to celebrate Tet. Then from April, it can be expanded to all Chinese tourists entering Vietnam. The decisions must be implemented very quickly. If successful, this will be a premise for Vietnam to take an important step forward in opening visas, realizing the goal of welcoming 12 - 20 million international visitors in 2024," he suggested.

25 Vietnamese localities and units honored at the ASEAN Tourism Awards 2024

The ASEAN Tourism Awards is an annual event to honor localities and units with high-quality tourism products and services, contributing to the sustainable development of tourist destinations in the ASEAN region. At this year's award ceremony, Vietnam was honored to have 25 localities and units honored in award categories, including: ASEAN Green Hotel (5 units); ASEAN Clean Tourist City (3 cities); ASEAN MICE Venue - Meeting Room Category (5 units); ASEAN MICE Venue - Exhibition Venue Category (5 units); ASEAN MICE Venue - Event Organization Category (5 units).

International visitors to Vietnam in January hit record high, equal to pre-pandemic level

According to the latest data from the General Statistics Office, the number of international visitors to Vietnam in January 2024 reached over 1.5 million, an increase of 10.3% over the previous month and an increase of 73.6% over the same period in 2023. This figure is the highest since Vietnam reopened tourism from March 2022, equivalent to the number of international visitors to Vietnam in January 2019 before the pandemic. The main growth drivers in January came from a number of major markets such as: South Korea increased by 12.2% over the previous month; China increased by 3.4%; the US increased sharply by 28.9%; Australia increased by a remarkable 67.7%.

In particular, the first month of the year witnessed very good growth from European markets enjoying unilateral visa exemption policies such as: UK (up 37.4%), France (18.6%), Germany (25%), Italy (62.9%), Russia (41.2%), Denmark (74.1%), Sweden (55.9%), Norway (47.4%). The National Tourism Administration assessed that this growth shows the clear impact of the policy of increasing the length of stay from 15 days to 45 days for 13 countries with unilateral visa exemption, effective from August 15, 2023.

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