Tourism revenue endures steep plunge over eight months

Since April last year the country has kept its borders closed to international tourists to combat COVID-19, with the majority of foreign arrivals made up of experts and technical workers performing duties and projects locally.

August alone saw the number of international visitors to the country increase by 24.4% to 9,300 compared to July, thereby representing a fall of 43% compared to the same period from last year.

During the reviewed period, foreign arrivals reached 105,000, an annual decline of 97.2%.

The number of arrivals coming into the country by air, road, and sea routes also dropped significantly by 97.7%, 93.8%, and 99.8% to 68,800, 36,000, and 275, respectively.

This period also saw the number of Asian visitors fall by 96.7% to 90,600, although they still made up 86.2% of the total number of international visitors to the country.

Most notably, arrivals from Europe plummeted by 98.6%, visitors from the Americas dropped by 98.5%, and guests from Africa declined by 92.9%, while visitors from China, the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan (China) also experienced a downward trend.

Due to social distancing measures implemented during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic tourists have declined by 5.5% to 31.2 million, with total tourism revenue during the reviewed period dropping 36.5% to VND136,520 billion.

In the remaining months of the year, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) is now working alongside Kien Giang province to welcome back international visitors who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to Phu Quoc island on a pilot scheme.  

The VNAT will propose solutions aimed at supporting local businesses to recover in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and carry out a digital transformation project in the tourism industry with a focus on developing smart tourism services.