According to information from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), in July 2023, Vietnam welcomed more than 1 million international visitors, an increase of 6.5% over the previous month. This is the first month since the beginning of 2023 that the tourism industry has welcomed more than 1 million international visitors.

Domestic visitors in July 2023 reached 12.5 million, including 8.3 million overnight visitors. Thus, in the first 7 months of 2023, the total number of international visitors to our country reached nearly 6.6 million, equivalent to 83% of the 2023 plan. The total number of domestic visitors reached 76.5 million. Total revenue from tourists is estimated at 416.6 trillion VND.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism: With 83% of the annual plan for welcoming international visitors after only 7 months, the tourism industry is likely to soon complete the set target. In particular, the industry still has a lot of room to continue growing when entering the peak season for welcoming international tourists at the end of the year. South Korea continues to be the largest market sending visitors in the past 7 months with nearly 1.9 million arrivals (accounting for nearly 1/3 of the total number of visitors), followed by China and the US.

International tourists visit the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam in Hanoi. Illustration photo: dangcongsan.vn

Among the top 10 international tourist markets of Vietnam, Northeast Asia has 4 markets: Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan. Southeast Asia has 3 markets: Thailand; Malaysia and Cambodia. Australia ranked 9th and India ranked 10th. In Europe, the UK, France and Germany are the largest tourist markets.

In July 2023, visitors from Europe had the best growth rate among the continents. Many leading markets of Vietnamese tourism increased compared to the previous month such as South Korea (up 6%), China (up 14%), the US (up 7%), Taiwan (31.3%), Japan (15%)... According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the number of global tourists will recover to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels by 2024 at the earliest. The increase in visitors along with changes in consumer trends, tourism markets, and digital technology poses significant challenges for the tourism human resources team in the new situation.

According to experts, the quality and productivity of labor in the tourism and hotel industry is still low. Specifically, labor productivity in hotels in Vietnam is only 1/15 of Singapore, 1/10 of Japan and 1/5 of Malaysia. Therefore, domestic human resources are at risk of competing for jobs right at home because tourism workers from the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore come to Vietnam to work quite a lot. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the quality and develop human resources for tourism in Vietnam in the coming time...

Huong Giang