In the first 5 months of the year 2023, the tourism industry welcomes 4.6 million international visitor arrivals, reaching 57% of the plan

International visitors by month 2023 (thousand arrivals)
Source: GSO

In the first 5 months of 2023, there were nearly 4.6 million international visitor arrivals to Vietnam, reaching 57.5% of the plan in 2023. The Chinese tourist market continued to have positive growth.

According to the General Statistics Office, in May 2023, Vietnam welcomed 916.3 thousand international visitor arrivals, down 6.9% from the previous month, but increased 5,3 times over the same period of 2022.

South Korea continues to be the largest tourist source market in Jan – May period with 1.3 million arrivals. China rose to the second place, the US ranked the 3rd.

Among the top 10 source markets, Northeast Asia has 4 markets including Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan. Southeast Asia has Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia. Australia and India ranked the 9th and 10th.

Figure 2. Top 10 source markets of Vietnam in Jan-May 2023 (thousand arrivals)
Source: Complied from GSO

In Europe, the UK (113.8 thousand arrivals), France (95.8 thousand arrivals) and Germany (89.2 thousand arrivals) are the largest source markets. The Russian market reached 54 thousand arrivals after the first 5 months of the year.

The Chinese market had the best growth among key markets, reaching 146 thousand arrivals in May, increased by 34.8 thousand arrivals, equivalent to up 31.1% compared to April.

Markets with increased visitor numbers compared to April 2023 are: Indonesia (+ 64%), China (+ 31%), Malaysia (+ 21%), Japan (+ 2%). Some markets with a decrease in visitor arrivals compared to April 2023 are: Korea (-4.6%), US (-1.9%), Thailand (-32.5%), Cambodia (-20, 4%), Germany (-41%), UK (-33.5%), Australia (-20.6%).

Increase/Decrease of top 10 source markets
in May 2023 to April 2023 (%)

In general, Vietnam is in the low season of international tourism in May, so it is understandable that the total number of international visitors decreased compared to the previous month. Notably, however, the Chinese market continued to have a positive recovery. In terms of growth rate, which increased by 31% month-on-month. In terms of market size, China rose to the second place. This is a positive signal, creating a basis for a stronger recovery in the last months of the year.

With 4.6 million international arrivals in the first five months of the year, the tourism industry is likely to exceed the target of 8 million international visitor arrivals in 2023 thanks to its growth at the end of the year and policies to facilitate tourism in the near future.

*Source: Tourism Information Technology Center
Tags: international visitor, Chinese market, GSO,