Vietnam sees sharp increase in foreign arrivals in first two months of 2023
VOV.VN - The number of foreign visitors to Vietnam reached more than 1.8 million in the first two months of the year, a figure 36.6 times higher compared to the same period from last year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on February 28.
Most notably, localities received 933,000 foreign arrivals in February alone, marking a rise of 7.1% against January and 31.6 times higher than the figure seen a year ago.
This was only equal to 60% compared to the number seen back in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
In the reviewed period, Asia represented the country’s largest tourist source market with an estimated 1.3 million arrivals.
Coming in second was Europe with 242,500 arrivals, whilst the Americas was Vietnam’s third largest source of international visitors with 186,300 arrivals.
Vietnam also attracted 77,300 arrivals from Australia and 4,300 arrivals from Africa.
Moving forward, domestic aviation and tourism businesses are anticipating the Government to adopt a more open visa policy for international tourists, and to extend their stay from 15 to 30 days.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has made proposals to the Government about considering the issuance of electronic visas to all guest markets in order to attract more foreign visitors.
With these changes, the tourism market is expected to recover by the end of 2024 compared to the pre-pandemic period.