Foreign visitors touring the Hanoi Old Quarter on cyclos (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamwelcomed 12.6 million international arrivals in 2023, with the Republic ofKorea (RoK) and China being the largest source markets, according to the VietnamNational Authority of Tourism (VNAT).
The biggest group of visitors came from the RoK with 3.6 million, while afurther 1.7 million arrived from China.
TheVNAT said that the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam accounted for 70% ofthe figure recorded in 2019 – the time before the COVID-19 outbreak.
A goodrecovery was seen in the US, the RoK, Taiwan (China), Thailand and Indonesia,while upbeat signs came from the Europe, especially Spain, Germany, the UK andFrance.
China – a traditional tourism feeder market of Vietnam had a slow recovery rateof 30%, and Russia only 19%.
Foreign visitors at Ha Long International Cruise Port (Photo: VNA) The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the World Travel and Tourism Council(WTTC) forecast that the global tourism is on track of full recovery in 2024,reaching the pre-COVID level.
International visitors’ demand continues to revolve, requiring countries toimprove the quality of the tourism offerings and experience, they said, addingadvanced technologies such as AI and digital transformation will speed up theformation of new challenges for the tourism sector.
This year, Vietnam eyes to welcome 17-18 million international visitors, andserve 110 million domestic ones. Total tourism revenue is targeted at around840 trillion VND (34.6 billion USD).
Especially, the Visit Vietnam Year – Dien Bien 2024 with 169 national andprovincial programmes and events is expected to bring new experience tovisitors.
Lastyear, the country gained some 678 trillion VND in tourism revenue, surpassing 4.3%of the set target./.
