In April, international tourists to Vietnam reached nearly 70,000, still a small and modest number

The result of international tourists is still a modest number

Since the information that Vietnam officially announced the reopening of tourism activities, along with the promotion of communication and promotion from the National Administration of Tourism and the press, international tourists have known and came to Vietnam after two years of “freezing”.

According to statistics of the General Department of Tourism, international visitors to Vietnam in April were nearly 70,000 arrivals, an increase of 466.7 percent compared to March. In the first four months of the year, Vietnam welcomed more than 92,000 visitors, of which From the time of opening on March 15, there were more than 80,000 turns.

As for the situation of international tourism activities, the number of international tourists to some key tourist destinations increased compared to the same period last year. Specifically: Da Nang has welcomed 18 international flights from Singapore, Thailand and South Korea, the total number of international visitors reached about 7.4 thousand, an increase of nearly 16 times over the same period in 2021; Hai Phong has welcomed 4.5 thousand international visitors, tourists concentrated in two tourist areas of Do Son and Cat Ba. This is a good sign for Vietnam’s inbound tourism season this year (from September onwards).

According to a representative of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, looking at the results shows a signal of prosperity and recovery of the tourism industry, and at the same time shows that the travel demand of international tourists is very high, affirming that tourists International tourism has initially overcome the fear and concern about the epidemic to travel. And so, localities and travel businesses need to promote and tout their tourism products more strongly to attract the attention of tourists to Vietnam.

However, looking at the results of more than a month since the reopening of tourism activities, that number is still too small and modest.

Sharing with Dan Viet about the activity of welcoming international tourists over the past time, Mr. Pham Ha – Chairman of Lux Group said: “Up to now, the number of international visitors has shown signs of recovery with positive signals. Specifically, the number of international tourists to Vietnam has recovered at 30%.In destinations such as Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, Cat Ba…, the number of international tourists using tourism services Boats also account for about 30%, the rest are domestic tourists.

Also according to Mr. Pham Ha, currently, the number of tourists mainly comes from 13 countries on the list of international visa exemptions. Besides, tourists from Australia, New Zealand, Europe and America are also showing signs of approaching the Vietnamese tourism market. Therefore, we need to relax more visa regulations and related procedures to receive and facilitate international tourists to Vietnam.

According to a representative of Lux Group, now international tourists are almost no longer concerned when traveling in Vietnam. This number of visitors tends to come in small groups. Destinations that are preferred by international tourists are mountain-climbing journeys, sea and island tourism, eco-tourism or green, wild and few destinations.

Facing the general trend of opening up to international tourists, tourism activities are facing some difficulties such as shortage of personnel, especially staff with high English proficiency and high ability to serve international tourists. economic.

Besides, the quality of destinations has not really recovered as before the epidemic. However, the current advantage is that international tourists also have sympathy and understanding with the travel agency. In the process of welcoming international tourists, domestic tourists also have a friendly, open and harmonious attitude towards international guests. These are great advantages to help recovery activities and international arrivals to Vietnam increase rapidly in the near future.

Need to relax more visa regulations

Appreciating the flourishing activities in welcoming international tourists to the Vietnamese market, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Linh – Director of Mr Linh’s Adventures said: “After two years of the epidemic, the number of international tourists has come. Currently, businesses have reconnected with many international markets, however, the number of international visitors to Vietnam has not really increased.

Explaining the reason for this situation, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Linh said that currently tourists still have concerns due to problems with procedures, visas and planning process. The application of the visa period of 15 days is a short period of time, which may not meet the expectations of visitors. If visa is applied for 20 days or 30 days it will be better.

“Another reason, I think, is that the epidemic lasted for two years, international tourists also do not have abundant financial resources and travel funds, so they are limited at least during this time. The next reason that the number of tourists coming to Vietnam is not large, in my opinion, I need to participate in many tourism activities abroad such as international fairs, tourism promotion…

At such events and tourism activities, do Vietnamese travel agencies have the opportunity to directly promote products, real people, real things, how do they see the current destinations directly? How are Vietnam’s tourism activities and services after two years of the epidemic? Besides, it is strengthening communication, advertising and promoting more strongly with the international tourist market,” said Mr. Nguyen Tuan Linh.

According to Mr. Nguyen Tuan Linh, tourists tend to explore and experience many different destinations.

With a market approach, currently, travel businesses have partners and orders from a number of countries such as Germany, UK, France and some customers in Northern Europe such as Denmark, Sweden… The openness in the opening process together with open policies in accessing visitors, markets and administrative procedures will be the solution to help attract international tourists to Vietnam in the coming time.

As a unit that regularly organizes activities to welcome international tourists to the Vietnamese market, Mr. Tri Van Nghiep – Director of Vinh Binh tourism company shared: “In reality today, the activity of welcoming tourists is However, the number of international visitors to Vietnam is still maintained continuously after the opening day. before translation”.

According to Mr. Tri Van Nghiep, the low number of visitors to Vietnam is because the international market is currently in low season. The number of visitors mainly comes from countries such as France, Spain or some countries in the European region. Coming to Vietnam at this time, tourists are very interested in experiencing tourism activities at destinations that are not too crowded. Thanks to that, visitors can comfortably experience all fun and relaxing activities.

Sharing about the current difficulties in welcoming international tourists, Mr. Tri Van Nghiep said: “Currently, the epidemic situation has been effectively controlled, however, in some destinations, people Indigenous people are still afraid, even concerned that international visitors are the source of the disease.

Along with that, after two years of the epidemic, most of the facilities were degraded, unable to meet the needs of tourists. In the process of serving international tourists, we also encounter a shortage of qualified human resources to meet the requirements of welcoming international tourists.”