Vietnam tracks recovery trends

Vietnam estimates it welcomed 5,574,969 visitors for the first six months ending 30 June 2023, according to Vietnam’s General Statistics Office.

In June, the tally reached 975,010 visitors, an increase of 6.4% over May 2023 and 527% compared to June 2022. GSO figures indicated that the first six-month tally was up 1,347% compared to the first six months of 2022.

The country’s Tourism Information Technology Centre noted that Korea led the tourism source markets during the first six months of 2023 with 1.6 million arrivals. China followed with 557,000, and the US ranked third with 374,000.

Compared with January to June 2019 totals, the five most notable markets that delivered positive arrivals during the first six months of 2023 were Cambodia (338%), India (236%), Laos (117%), Thailand (108.4%), and Singapore (107.4%).

Two markets were close to passing the pre-Covid 2019 levels; the US (95%) and Australia (92%). In addition, South Korea (77%), the UK (78.5%), Germany (83.7%) and France (68.6%) gained ground, closing in on the pre-Covid benchmark.

But China’s outbound travel market only recovered 22.4% due to the late reopening of group tours to Vietnam that started on 15  March 2023. Pre-Covid pandemic, China was the country’s top tourism source market by a substantial margin pre-Covid era.

TTR Weekly – July 19, 2023