Appropriate measures needed to attract more Indian tourists

Hanoi (VNA) – If effective measures are taken, Vietnam can easily attract tourists from India – the world’s second most populous country, according to insiders.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) said that 137,900 Indians visited Vietnam last year, making it ninth out of the 10 markets sending the largest number of travelers to the Southeast Asian nation. The average growth rate was 45% per month.

Notably, since July 2022, the number of Indian tourists to Vietnam each month has recorded an increase compare to the same month of 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

The positive results are attributed to a large number of direct air routes between the two countries.

At present, Vietnam’s Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet, and India’s IndiGo are exploiting 21 direct air routes, with over 60 flights a week.

In addition, the Vietnamese tourism sector has stepped up promotion in India, notably the Vietnam-India tourism promotion forum in New Delhi on December 14, 2022.

India’s searches for Vietnamese tourism have increased continuously, with the number in last November rising threefold against that of July, and twofold against that of August.

Google Destination Insights has also listed India among the 10 countries with the most searches for tourism in Vietnam.

To attract more Indians to Vietnam, localities and businesses are advised to invest in infrastructure to better serve them as they have specific demands in terms of religion and beliefs, and cuisine.

Indian Ambassador to Vietnam Subhash Prasad Gupta said that the two countries should continue intensifying popularisation of arts and cuisine, particularly via films and on the Internet./.