(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
