Foreign tourist arrivals down 37.8 percent in first four months

Only 3.7 million foreign tourists visited Vietnam in the first four months of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a year-on-year decline of 37.8 percent, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Foreign tourists in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

Only 3.7 million foreign tourists visited Vietnam in the first four months of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a year-on-year decline of 37.8 percent, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

In April alone, the number was a mere 262,000, down 94.2 percent compared to March and 98.2 percent against April 2019.

Vietnam suspended the granting of visas for 30 days from March 18, which was a major factor in the declining numbers.

Visitors from Asia accounted for 72.7 percent of the total in the first four months, down 40.3 percent year-on-year, with the sharpest decline of 47.7 percent seen in the number of tourists from China.

The number of tourists from Cambodia and Laos, however, increased 157.2 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively.

Visitors from Europe fell 25.4 percent year-on-year, of which arrivals from Russia were down 10.3 percent, from the UK 34.3 percent, from France 37.6 percent, and from Germany 35.8 percent.

The number of arrivals from the Americas was down 37.6 percent year-on-year.

Arrivals by air accounted for 80.7 percent of the total, down 35.9 percent, while those arriving by road fell 51.4 percent. Those coming via sea routes increased 20.7 percent.

After applying social distancing measures, many domestic tourist destinations have now been re-opened to welcome guests and have introduced promotional programmes, especially on the occasion of Reunification Day on April 30 and International Labour Day on May 1.

Tourism and accommodation establishments are, however, still applying preventative measures recommended by the Ministry of Health.

HCM City's authorities said they will soon launch a tourism stimulus programme targeting domestic visitors as well as key plans to revitalize the tourism industry following COVID-19./.

VNA