China becomes Vietnam’s second biggest source of tourists

Over 146,000 Chinese tourists arrived in Vietnam this month, up 23% from the previous month, according to a report by the General Statistics Office.

Since China began reopening its border in mid-January, the country welcomed a total of 398,000 Chinese arrivals.

South Korea continued to be the largest source of tourist arrivals with over 1.3 million in the first five months.

The U.S. ranked third with 307,000 arrivals.

Vietnam received over 916,000 foreign tourist arrivals in May, down 6.9% from the previous month.

In the first five months of this year, the country welcomed 4.6 million international visitors, more than half this year’s target of 8 million but just 63% of pre-pandemic levels.

In 2019, the year before the onset of the pandemic, China was Vietnam’s biggest source of foreign arrivals with 5.5 million arrivals.

Earlier, HSBC predicted Vietnam could receive 3 to 4.5 million visitors from China this year, equivalent to 50%-80% of pre-pandemic levels.

Legislators will vote next month on the bill that seeks to extend the validity of e-visas from 30 days to a maximum of three months and allow multiple entry.

Southeast Asian economies have been recording positive signs in tourism recovery.

The number of foreign visitors to Thailand so far this year was 9.47 million compared with the 11.15 million visitors in the whole of 2022.