Vietjet continues overseas network expansion as tourism recovers

Vietnam’s low-cost carrier Vietjet has announced two new routes to South Korea and China as tourist arrivals from those two markets have surged, giving a boost to the domestic tourism industry.

The carrier on Monday announced a new route connecting Vietnam’s coastal city of Nha Trang to Daegu, South Korea’s fourth-largest city.

The new route is scheduled to commence operation on October 27, 2024, with seven round-trip flights per week, affirming the airline’s largest flight network between Vietnam and Korea.

The announcement was made at the Vietnam-South Korea Tourism Promotion and Cultural Cooperation Forum in the presence of Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during his four-day official visit to Seoul.

Since its inaugural flight linking the two capitals Hanoi and Seoul in July 2014, Vietjet has continually expanded its flight network, transporting ten million passengers across over 37 regular and charter services between Vietnam and South Korea.

Vietjet is flying between Vietnam’s major tourist attractions namely Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Danang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, and Da Lat and Korea’s Seoul, Busan, and Daegu.

The airline on Monday inaugurated its new route connecting HCMC to Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province in China, renowned for its rich historical and cultural heritage, following the launch of services to Shanghai and Chengdu.

The route, operating four round-trip flights weekly, aims to foster deeper cultural and economic ties between the two cities as well as the two neighboring countries.

The new routes expand Vietjet's network across Vietnam and internationally to destinations in Australia, India, Northeast Asia, and Southeast Asia, creating more opportunities for cultural exchange, education, economic development, and tourism between nations.

In the first six months this year, Vietnam welcomed 8.8 million foreign tourist arrivals, reaching nearly half of its inbound tourism target of 18 million this year – the pre-pandemic level.

South Korea made up the biggest share of 2.28 million in H1, or 30%; followed by mainland China with 1.89 million (25%).

In the six-month period, air travel was the most popular mode of transportation for foreign visitors to Vietnam, with 7.4 million passenger arrivals, up 51.6% year-on-year.