Taking full advantage of the craze for destinations in the South-East Asia, Vietnamese tourism has crossed the threshold of 10 million international arrivals for the first time.
According to the statistics published by Vietnamese tourism ministry the country welcomed more than 10 million international tourists during 2016, representing a 26% increase in visitation numbers relative to the previous fiscal year's performance.
As a consequence, the country's tourism revenues reached the equivalent of almost 16.5 billion euros for the year 2016.
Furthermore, Vietnamese tourism boom does not show any signs of slowing down. During the first two months of 2017, the country received over 2.2 million foreign visitors, a 33% increase compared to the same fiscal period in 2016.
French tourists have continued to visit Vietnam in larger numbers, with around 250 000 recorded arrivals last year. This number represents a 14% increase over 2015 results. Among European markets, only Russia (434 000 visitors, +28%) and the United Kingdom (255 000 visitors, +20%) showed even more interest than France in visiting Vietnam last year.
It is, however, other Asian countries which are most responsible for the marked growth of Vietnamese tourism industry. Vietnam welcomed almost 2.7 million Chinese tourists in 2016, a 51% increase in visitation by travelers from the Middle Kingdom. The number of Korean tourists also underwent a significant increase: +39%, reaching 1.55 million visitors.
Vietnam is now reaping the benefits of measures it took to increase the growth of its tourism sector, such as the introduction of an electronic visa system and the simplification of the visa renewal process. These measures have been incorporated into the recent tourism law. With renewed ambitions, the country has set itself the goal of reaching 11.5 million international tourists over the course of 2017.