(TITC) - In December 2023, Vietnam welcomed 1.37 million international visitor arrivals. Whole year 2023, the total number of international visitors reaches 12.6 million arrivals, 3.5 times higher than 2022.
The number of international visitors over the months is steadily increasing, showing a recovering trend in international visitors. Notably, each in the last 6 months of 2023 gained over 1 million visitor arrivals to Vietnam, of which December reached the highest number with 1.37 million.
Figure 1. International visitors by month, 2019, 2022 and 2023 (thousands arrivals)
Source: Compiled from General Statistics Office
Korea is the largest source market
Korea is the largest source market of Vietnam in 2023 with nearly 3.6 million arrivals (accounting for 28% of the total number of visitors). Chinese market reached 1.7 million arrivals (2nd). The total of two markets, Korea and China, accounted for 42% of international visitor arrivals to Vietnam.
Ranked third is Taiwan with 851 thousand arrivals. Then America is 717 thousand (4th); and Japan (590 thousand, 5th).
Next are Southeast Asian markets: Thailand (489 thousand, 6th); Malaysia (470 thousand, 7th); Cambodia (402 thousand, 8th). India ranked 9th (392 thousand arrivals); Australia ranked 10th (390 thousand arrivals).
Top source markets of Europe to Vietnam are England (253 thousand arrivals), France (215 thousand arrivals) and Germany (200 thousand arrivals).
Compared to 2019, Russia and the UK did not maintain in the top 10 source markets in Vietnam, replaced by Cambodia and India with breakthrough growth in the year 2023.
Figure 2. Top 10 tourist source markets of Vietnam in 2023 (thousands of visits)
Source: Compiled from General Statistics Office data
Some markets recovered positively compared to before the pandemic
The number of international visitors to Vietnam in 2023 reaches 70% compared to 2019. In terms of continents, source market from Oceania and the Americas has the best recovery (99% and 93%); Europe (67%) and Africa (63%) recovered slowly. Asia only reached 68%.
Figure 3. Recovery level compared to 2019, by continent (%)
Source: Compiled from General Statistics Office
Some large markets have a very good level of recovery: US (96%), Korea (84%), Taiwan (92%), Thailand (96%), and Indonesia (99%). In particular, some Southeast Asian markets are even higher than before the pandemic: Cambodia (176%); Laos (122%); Singapore (106%). In South Asia, the Indian market also had an impressive recovery (231%).
Optimistic signals also came from main markets in Europe: Spain recovered the best with 91%; Germany reached 88%; UK scored 80%; France recovered 75%.
However, the traditional Chinese market has only reached a 30% recovery rate. At the time before the pandemic, the Chinese market accounted for nearly 1/3 of the total number of international visitor arrivals to Vietnam. The Russian market only reached 19% compared to 2019. Another important market of Vietnam in Asia, Japan, is only 62%.
Figure 4. Recovery level compared to 2019 of some markets
Source: Compiled from General Statistics Office
