(TITC) – In the first five months of 2025, international arrivals to Viet Nam exceeded 9.2 million, an increase of 21.3% compared to the same period last year. In May 2025 alone, the number of international visitors reached 1.53 million, up 10.5%.

International visitors by month (thousand arrivals)

Source: Compiled from National Statistics Office’s data

Among the total number of international visitors to Viet Nam, 85.2% arrived by air, 12.9% by land, and 1.9% by sea.

In terms of market size, China maintained its top position with 2.36 million arrivals (accounting for 25.7%), followed by South Korea with over 1.9 million arrivals (20.7%).

Top 10 source markets of Viet Nam tourism also included Taiwan (533 thousand arrivals), the United States (375 thousand), Japan (342 thousand), Cambodia (325 thousand), India (272 thousand), Australia (241 thousand), and Malaysia (221 thousand). Notably, Russia entered the top 10 markets with 210 thousand arrivals, making it the largest European source market.

Top 10 international markets in the first 5 months of 2025 (thousand arrivals)

Source: Compiled from National Statistics Office’s data

Regarding growth drivers, in the first 5 months, the Chinese market saw a sharp increase (+47.2% year-on-year), Japan grew well (+18.3%), and the United States saw a steady rise (+7.2%).

Several Southeast Asian markets experienced rapid growth, including the Philippines (+104.3%), Cambodia (+64.8%), and Laos (+39.8%). Other nearby markets saw moderate increases: Indonesia (+11.6%), Thailand (+4.1%), Malaysia (+2.9%), and Singapore (+2.6%).

India, a promising market, grew by 38.3%, and Australia rose by 13.1% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, South Korea saw a slight decline of 2.4%.

Notably, markets benefiting from Viet Nam’s unilateral visa exemption policy continued their growth momentum: the UK (+19.5%), France (+19.8%), Germany (+16.1%), Italy (+24.7%), Spain (+10.3%), Denmark (+10.9%), Sweden (+15.1%), and Norway (+14.3%). The Russian market recorded a strong increase of 121.1% compared to the same period in 2024.

Additionally, countries benefiting from short-term visa exemption under the 2025 Tourism Promotion Program also saw increases compared to 2024, including Poland (+44.5%) and Switzerland (+10.7%).

Currently, the tourism sector is actively implementing campaigns to promote Viet Nam’s tourism abroad. In May 2025, the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism organized tourism promotional programs in three European countries: France, Italy, and Switzerland, and promoted Viet Nam’s tourism and cinema at the Cannes Film Festival in France. According to the plan, in June 2025, the Authority will continue to hold promotional programs in Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany.

Tourism Information Technology Center

According to the General Statistics Office, international visitors to Vietnam in March 2025 reached more than 2 million; a year-on-year increase of nearly 29%. In the first quarter of 2025, Vietnam welcomed more than 6 million international visitors, up by nearly 30% compared to the same period last year and the highest-ever number of visitors in a quarter.

China was the largest market with nearly 1.6 million arrivals; South Korea ranked second with nearly 1.3 million arrivals; followed by such markets as Taiwan (China), Japan, India, the U.S.A and Australia.

Travelers from Russia take direct Azur Air flights to Khanh Hoa from mid-March of 2025.

The record number of visitors in the first 3 months of 2025 resulted from effective promotional campaigns and visa relaxation to lure tourists from potential markets; contributing to affirming the growing appeal of the destination of Vietnam but also marking a significant step toward the goal of welcoming 22 to 23 million international visitors by the end of 2025.

However, to achieve this goal, the tourism industry needs to focus on developing a wider variety of tourism products, especially those with unique cultural and historical values; green tourism products… to attract more and more international visitors and encourage higher spending from travelers.

Source: Khanh Hoa News – news.baokhanhhoa.vn – Apr 9, 2025