China overtakes S Korea as largest source of travelers to Vietnam in May

Mainland China has surpassed South Korea as the largest source of foreign visitors to Vietnam in May, marking a significant revival of Chinese tourist flow to the Southeast Asian nation since its Covid-19 reopening two years ago.

In May, Vietnam welcomed about 357,190 Chinese travelers, up 243% year-on-year, compared to 351,246 South Korean tourist arrivals (up 142%), according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

This also marks the first time in five years that China has reclaimed its position as the top market for Vietnam’s travel industry on a monthly basis.

However, in the first five months of 2024, South Korea led the tourist rush to Vietnam with 1.9 million visitors, making up 25.7% of the total. Trailing South Korea was mainland China with 1.6 million (21.2%), Taiwan with 529,000, and the U.S. with 289,000.

Generally, Vietnam is estimated to have drawn nearly 1.4 million overseas tourist arrivals in May and 7.6 million from January-May, up 51% and 64.9% year-on-year, respectively. Notably, the five-month figure exceeded the same period of pre-pandemic 2019 by 3.9%.

By region, Asia still tops the list of foreign visitors to Vietnam in the five months, with 5.89 million arrivals, up 73.3% year-on-year. Following Asia is Europe with 796,000 (up 57.1%), the Americas with 460,100 (up 16.2%), and Oceania with 233,100 (up 35.5%).

The Northeast Asian region has provided the biggest boost to Vietnam’s inbound tourism revival. Mainland China witnessed the fastest pace at 302.3%, trailed by Taiwan with 110.1%, South Korea with 48.1%, and Japan with 41.7%.

In the five-month period, air travel was the most popular mode of transportation for foreign visitors to Vietnam, with 6.3 million passenger arrivals (up 1.6 times year-on-year).

As a result, Vietnam is estimated to have earned VND24.2 trillion ($950.7 million) in travel revenue, up 45.1% year-on-year.

This year, Vietnam targets 18 million international visitors, equal to the 2019 pre-pandemic level.