Viet Nam records more than 17.5 million international visitor arrivals in 2024
Figure 1. International visitors by month of 2024 (thousands of arrivals)
Source: Compiled from the General Statistics Office
In 2024, international visitor arrivals by air were more than 14.8 million, accounting for 84.4%; by road: 2.5 million (14.2%); by sea: 248.1 thousand (1.4%). By region, international visitors to Viet Nam from Asia accounted for 79.6%, Europe: 11.3%, Americas: 5.7%, Oceania: 3,1%, Africa: 0.3%.
Top ten Viet Nam tourism’s source markets
South Korea remained the biggest source market in 2024 with 4.5 million arrivals (26%). China ranked second with 3.7 million (21.3%).
Among the top ten markets were the USA (780 thousand arrivals), Japan (711 thousand), India (501 thousand), Malaysia (495 thousand), Australia (491 thousand), Cambodia (475 thousand) and Thailand (418 thousand).
Notably, the potential market of India recorded significant growth in the last few years, from 138 thousand arrivals in 2022 to 392 thousand arrivals in 2023, and 501 thousand arrivals in 2024, an increase of 2.6 times in just 2 years, making India the 6th biggest source market sending visitors to Viet Nam.
Figure 2. Top 10 source markets of Viet Nam in 2024 (thousands of arrivals)
Source: Compiled from the General Statistics Office
Key drivers of Viet Nam tourism growth
Big markets in Northeast Asia were key drivers of international visitor growth in 2024. In particular, the Chinese market increased by 214.4% compared to 2023, followed by South Korea (+27.1%), Japan (+20.7%), Taiwan (+51.4%). Nearby markets in Southeast Asia grew well, including Indonesia (+74.7%), the Philippines (+73.6%), Laos (+23.3%), Cambodia (+18.0%), Malaysia (+5.4%) Singapore (+5.9%). The Thai market decreased by 14.5%.
Positive growth was also seen in European markets, such as the UK (+20.8%), France (+29.4%), Germany (+24.5%), Italy (+55.8%), Spain (+20.1%), Russia (+84.9%), Denmark (+22,1%), Norway (+23.0%), Sweden (+33.0%). These are the markets that enjoy an open visa policy effective from August 15, 2023, which allows their citizens to stay in Viet Nam temporarily up to 45 days.
The recovery compared to 2019 level
By region, the Ocenaia market exceeded 2019 levels (125%), Americas: 103%. Meanwhile, Asia bounced back to 97% of pre-pandemic levels, Europe recovered 92%.
Figure 3. Recovery of some source markets compared to 2019
Source: Compiled from General Statistics Office
The recovery of Asian source markets was driven by the good results of South Korea (106%), Taiwan (139%), as well as the robust performance of India (297%), Cambodia (208%), Indonesia (173%), Laos (151%), Philippines (148%), Singapore (112%).
However, the stagnatation of traditional markets such as China (64%), Japan (75%), Thailand and Malaysia (82%) has slowed down the recovery of Asia in general.
Some of the strongest performers from Europe were Spain (+109%), Italia (126%), while the UK and France recorded 97%.
