Although China approved group tours to Vietnam from March 15th, the number of Chinese tourists coming to Vietnam is still increasing slowly. In five months, Vietnam only welcomed nearly 400,000 Chinese tourists.
Statistics from the General Statistics Office show that international arrivals to Vietnam in May reached an estimated 916.3 thousand people, a 6.9% decrease compared to the previous month but 5.3 times higher than the same period in 2022.
For the first five months of 2023, international arrivals to Vietnam reached nearly 4.6 million people, 12.6 times higher than the same period last year but still only 63% compared to the same period in 2019.
Among the total of nearly 4.6 million international arrivals to Vietnam in the first five months of this year, South Korean tourists still lead with 247,538 arrivals, bringing the total number of South Korean tourists since the beginning of the year to nearly 1.318 million. This is the largest tourist market in Vietnam.
Vietnam welcomed the first Chinese delegation by land after the country allowed the opening of a group tour to Vietnam (Photo: Thuy Ha)
Chinese tourists, although reaching 146,755 arrivals in May and continuing to increase compared to the previous month (nearly 112,000 arrivals), still have a low growth rate. China is the second-largest tourist market for Vietnam in the first five months, with nearly 400,000 tourists.
When compared to 2019 – the pre-Covid-19 period, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Vietnam is still far behind the figure of 427,788 arrivals in May alone, and in five months, we welcomed nearly 2.136 million arrivals.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s tourism competitor, Thailand, is gaining an advantage in attracting Chinese tourists, demonstrating the attractiveness of this destination to a market of over 1.4 billion people.
Bloomberg reported on May 28th that the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand has exceeded one million arrivals since the beginning of the year.
This is thanks to a significant increase in the number of flights from China to Thailand, up by 98% compared to the previous year, with 12,805 flights from October 2022 to April 2023, according to Anucha Burapachaisri, a spokesperson for the Thai government.
According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the country has raised its target for Chinese arrivals this year to 6-7 million, instead of 5 million.
Chinese tourists are among the top five foreign tourist groups visiting Thailand, along with tourists from Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, and India.
@Vietnamnet