Vietnam's tourism shows strong recovery in 2023

2023 is a successful year for tourism sector with a large number of visitors and enhanced reputation in the world arena, according to insiders.

The goal for foreign arrivals in 2023 was adjusted from 8 million to 12.5-13 million right after 10 months.

Tourism experts attributed the results to strong efforts from all stakeholders, especially the Government.

This year, for the first time, a Prime Minister chaired national conferences on tourism development, on March 15 and November 15.

In May, the Prime Minister issued a resolution on speeding up tourism recovery and development in an effective and sustainable manner. Three months later, the Government issued two more resolutions on granting e-visa and increasing the temporary stay to 45 days for citizens of 13 countries that are unilaterally exempted from visas.

Right from the beginning of the year, localities have actively implemented tourism promotion programmes as well as cultural and sports activities to encourage travelling activities, while introducing new products to lure more international tourists. Notably, Hanoi has for the first time launched 15 night-time tourism products.

As a result, after 11 months, Vietnam welcomed more than 11.2 million foreign visitors, 3.8 times higher than that in the same period of 2022. The number of domestic tourists also reached 103.2 million, while total revenue from tourism hit 628.2 trillion VND (25.76 billion USD). In November alone, the country saw a month-on-month surge of 58.5% in the number of visitors from Europe.

The last month of the year with many big festive events is also expected to see a breakthrough for Vietnamese tourism.

In the year, Vietnam's tourism has been highly evaluated internationally, receiving many awards from the World Travel Awards, including the World’s Leading Heritage Destination 2023 for the fourth time and Asia’s Leading Destination.

Many localities of Vietnam have also been honoured. Notably, the capital city of Hanoi won the “Asia's Leading City Destination 2023” and "Asia's Leading City Break Destination 2023” awards. Meanwhile Ho Chi Minh City won “Asia’s Leading Business Travel Destination” and “Asia's Leading Festival & Event Destination 2023” awards.

At the same time, Hoi An was honoured as Asia's Leading Cultural City Destination 2023, while Moc Chau was named Asia’s Leading Regional Nature Destination 2023. Phu Quoc Island won the "Asia's Leading Luxury Island Tourism Destination 2023" award. The northernmost border province of Ha Giang for the first time won the title of “Asia’s Leading Emerging Tourism Destination”. Northern Ha Nam province received the award for “Asia's Leading Regional Cultural Destination 2023” for the first time.

Travel Lemming - an online travel guide website, has placed Vietnam's pearl island of Phu Quoc in the sixth position in the top 50 tourist destinations in 2024. The US’s Travel Off Path website has also run an article stating why Vietnam is increasingly becoming a favourite destination for digital nomads with its open visa policy.

However, the year has also left many lessons for the tourism sector of Vietnam, including that on calculation and setting of specific targets in tourist number in specific periods.

Many tourism experts held that the sector should set a high goal in the number of foreign arrivals in 2024, suggesting it at 17-18 million.

Setting a high target is also a way to prompt localities to take actions right from the beginning of the year, creating new opportunities for the industry to grow, they underscored./.
VNA