South Korea is Vietnam’s biggest tourism source market in January, accounting for one-third of all international tourist arrivals.
Among the 871,000 international tourists who came to Vietnam in January, South Korea accounted for 258,946, the SaigonTimes citied a report from the country’s General Statistics Office.
The data showed, the U.S. came in second with 77,897 visitors, mainly due to a large number of Vietnamese Americans returning home for Lunar New Year celebrations.
Meanwhile, Thailand is Vietnam’s third largest tourism source market, with an estimated number of 54,985 visitors.
Despite China’s reopening on January 8, Vietnam received a modest number of guests from the northern neighboring country, estimated at 15,875 visitors.
The majority of international tourists came to Vietnam by air at 91.9%, by road at 7.5% and by sea at 0.6%.
Travel and tourism services in January brought in an estimated VND2,200 billion in revenue, an increase of 113.4% over the same period of last year.
According to tourism companies, international travels to Vietnam will improve sharply in the coming time thanks to the recovery of the Chinese market, Japan’s relaxed restrictions on travel, and the resumption of trade and investment activities.
Travel experts around the world have forecast that 2023 will see strong growth in international travel demand, including to Vietnam, so the country expects to see many breakthroughs in both visitor numbers and revenue in 2023.