Khanh Hoa hopes to welcome 40,000 foreign tourists this year

The central province has said it would focus in particular on high-spending tourism markets.

Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, director of the provincial Department of Tourism, said that Khanh Hoa’s tourism industry, which is heavily dependent on Chinese tourists, has been looking for ways to diversify its tourism markets because China is still pursuing its zero-Covid policy with strict travel restrictions.

This year, the province will focus mainly on high-spending tourism markets like Australia, India, Malaysia, Russia, and South Korea, Thanh said.

The province also hopes a total of 1.16 million domestic tourists will visit this year, bringing in revenues of VND4 trillion ($175 million), up 80 percent from the previous year.

In 2019, the year before the onset of the ongoing pandemic, Khanh Hoa welcomed over 7 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent, including 3.56 million foreigners.

Since the government partially reopened international tourism last November, Khanh Hoa has welcomed 48 flights with over 10,000 foreign arrivals from Russia, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.

Tourist destinations around the country are preparing to welcome back foreign visitors after a hiatus of around two years, with Vietnam announcing full resumption of international tourism starting March 15.