Vietnam’s total revenue from tourists is estimated at 582.6 trillion VND (23.7 billion USD) in the first ten months of 2023, according to the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism.

Vietnam welcomes 1.11 million foreign visitors in October. (Photo: VNA)

In the period, the country welcomed 10 million foreign tourists, exceeding the target of 8 million for the whole year, and served 98.7 million domestic holiday-makers. In October alone, the tourism sector served 1.11 million foreign visitors and 5.2 million domestic tourists.

According to the nine-month socio-economic report announced released by the General Statistics Office, the service and tourism sector grew by 6.24%, contributing 53.34% of the total overall growth of the country's GDP.

In November, localities across the nation have plans to organise various events and festivals to attract more tourists, including Hanoi Tourist Gift Festival, Ninh Thuan Tourism and Culture Day in Can Tho city, Ba Ria – Vung Tau Tourism Week, and Mang Den Culture Festival in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum.

Travel companies in Vietnam are preparing to anticipate opportunities of the peak season of both inbound and outbound tours.

At present, the Republic of Korea, China, Taiwan (China), and Japan are widely sought after by tourists thanks to good tour prices. A representative of Saigontourist – one of Vietnam’s largest travel companies, said that tours with new destinations or offering new experiences are attracting tourists, many of whom are willing to spend large amounts of money to enjoy new experiences.

Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh, a representative of Vietravel – also a major Vietnamese travel firm, stated that with some tours that draw attention by a large number of Vietnamese tourists, such as those to China, the company always proactively links and cooperates with tourism promotion agencies, and localities to step up promotion activities and introduce tours at good prices so as to bring many impressive experiences to customers.

Online travel platform Agoda on October 24 for the first time announced Vietnam’s New Horizons – a list of new emerging destinations in the country that few tourists have known.

The list is made based on the results of comparing search data for the same period in 2022 and 2023 about emerging destinations, increasing interest from both domestic and foreign tourists.

On the top of the list is Tam Dao resort in the northern mountainous of Vinh Phuc with search traffic increasing by 279% over the same period last year.

Other destinations are Bac Ninh - a spiritual city in the North with a 234% increase in search volume; Sam Son coastal city in the central province of Thanh Hoa, 228%; and Phu Quy - a small island off the coast of Binh Thuan province. The coastal city of Quy Nhon with its romantic beaches and unique cuisine is also included in the list.

Vu Ngoc Lam, Director of Agoda in Vietnam, said that in addition to the most popular and famous destinations in Vietnam which many tourists visit regularly, Agoda found that some places with fewer visitors had a clear increase in searches.

Agoda wants to take advantage of this opportunity to introduce new places and find out what attracts those who love to explore destinations that few tourists have come to.

He said Vietnam has many interesting things to explore, in which second- and third-class destinations are increasingly sought after. Therefore, Agoda regularly introduces many incentives to help tourists have the best experiences when travelling to Vietnam.