Thailand trounces Vietnam in tourist arrivals and visas

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ExPenhMan
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Re: Thailand trounces Vietnam in tourist arrivals and visas

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Vietnam is badly trailing its neighbours in attracting tourists, according to four new travel data reports. Even Cambodia beat VN in the first half of 2022.

From Voice of Vietnam

HEADLINE: Vietnam loses out to regional rivals in foreign tourist attraction.
VOV.VN - Vietnam attracted only more than 413,000 foreign arrivals in the first half of this year, a figure which is much lower compared to competitors in Southeast Asia, and makes the set target of five million this year a challenging task.

Statistics show Thailand took the lead in Southeast Asia, welcoming 2.2 million foreign arrivals in the first half, followed by Malaysia 2 million and Singapore 1.5 million. Cambodia that borders Vietnam also received 510,000 foreign arrivals in the reviewed period.

The markets with the highest number of people visiting Vietnam in the first six months of the year are mainly from visa-free countries such as the Republic of Korea, the UK, France, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia, or e-visa holders such as the United States, Australia, and India.

However, in some recent surveys, Vietnam has been absent from the list of favourite destinations from such markets, while other destinations in Southeast Asia are more popular among tourists.

In ForwardKeys’s report in June, the Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia are popular destinations for American tourists heading to Southeast Asia.

Trip.com’s research on tourism trends during the summer shows that this year destinations such as Singapore, Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo, and Bali are the most popular in terms of booking much in the Asia-Pacific region.

AirAsia also revealed that the most popular destinations of Malaysian tourists for short vacations include Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Bangladesh.



https://english.vov.vn/en/travel/vietna ... 957675.vov
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Re: Thailand trounces Vietnam in tourist arrivals and visas

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I would contend that there is more to that. I just got back from Siem Reap, which was was virtually dead. A lot of the big hotels haven't even opened yet or are running empty. At the same time, the hotel I work in here in Sa Pa is full most days. Granted, few foreigners but the domestic tourists more than make up for it.
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Re: Thailand trounces Vietnam in tourist arrivals and visas

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hanno wrote: Fri Jul 22, 2022 4:07 pm I would contend that there is more to that. I just got back from Siem Reap, which was was virtually dead. A lot of the big hotels haven't even opened yet or are running empty. At the same time, the hotel I work in here in Sa Pa is full most days. Granted, few foreigners but the domestic tourists more than make up for it.
Yes, indeed. Vietnam domestic tourism is overflowing at many destinations. Lineups to everything are backed up for hours.

Headline: Summer holiday overcrowding tests [Viet] tourists' endurance
There were 60.8 million domestic tourists in the first half of this year, exceeding the annual target of 60 million.
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel/sum ... 90290.html
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Re: Thailand trounces Vietnam in tourist arrivals and visas

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ExPenhMan wrote: Fri Jul 22, 2022 4:22 pm
hanno wrote: Fri Jul 22, 2022 4:07 pm I would contend that there is more to that. I just got back from Siem Reap, which was was virtually dead. A lot of the big hotels haven't even opened yet or are running empty. At the same time, the hotel I work in here in Sa Pa is full most days. Granted, few foreigners but the domestic tourists more than make up for it.
Yes, indeed. Vietnam domestic tourism is overflowing at many destinations. Lineups to everything are backed up for hours.

Headline: Summer holiday overcrowding tests [Viet] tourists' endurance
There were 60.8 million domestic tourists in the first half of this year, exceeding the annual target of 60 million.
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel/sum ... 90290.html
Yes, it is insane. Our guests have to wait 1.5 hours to get a taxi, if they can get one and it then takes another 1.5 hours to go up to town, a distance of 3 kilometers. It is not just overcrowding, it is also a lot of bad management.
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Re: Thailand trounces Vietnam in tourist arrivals and visas

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Possibly some light over the horizon in terms of easing of Vietnam visa policies, which is considerably suppressing tourist arrivals -- a.k.a., my plans. Only 950,000 arrived in the first 7 months this year, which means the country ought to fall well short of its 5 million target.

Meanwhile, Thailand says it has welcomed 3.5 million "tourists." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <<< trail of salt grains.

This is the relevant segment in a long Tuoi Tre (Youth News) story, moaning about the failure to draw more visitors to VN and revealing government plans to address the lack of attractive visas:

At a recent meeting with tourism-related enterprises, Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that the number of foreign tourists was smaller than expected but he highlighted that the sector is not all doom and gloom.

Hung cited the number of foreign arrivals this year as 950,000, a 10-fold increase over 2021, crediting it to the General Statistics Office.

Despite its desire to fully recover, Vietnamese tourism is dependent on other countries’ reopening policies.

The Russia-Ukraine military conflict has also affected one of Vietnam’s largest source markets – the Russian Federation.

Meanwhile, Japan and South Korea are still heavily focused on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are striving to attract tourists. We will review visa policies and create favorable conditions for reopening,” the minister said.

Regarding proposals on easing visa policies, Minister Hung said the prime minister had recently held a meeting with the relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to clear obstacles facing international tourists.

In the coming periods, immigration policies will be surely relaxed, Hung assured, adding that enterprises should, in the meantime, prepare resources to improve their services.
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20 ... 68548.html
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Re: Thailand trounces Vietnam in tourist arrivals and visas

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ExPenhMan wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 11:45 am Possibly some light over the horizon in terms of easing of Vietnam visa policies, which is considerably suppressing tourist arrivals -- a.k.a., my plans. Only 950,000 arrived in the first 7 months this year, which means the country ought to fall well short of its 5 million target.

Meanwhile, Thailand says it has welcomed 3.5 million "tourists." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <<< trail of salt grains.

This is the relevant segment in a long Tuoi Tre (Youth News) story, moaning about the failure to draw more visitors to VN and revealing government plans to address the lack of attractive visas:

At a recent meeting with tourism-related enterprises, Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that the number of foreign tourists was smaller than expected but he highlighted that the sector is not all doom and gloom.

Hung cited the number of foreign arrivals this year as 950,000, a 10-fold increase over 2021, crediting it to the General Statistics Office.

Despite its desire to fully recover, Vietnamese tourism is dependent on other countries’ reopening policies.

The Russia-Ukraine military conflict has also affected one of Vietnam’s largest source markets – the Russian Federation.

Meanwhile, Japan and South Korea are still heavily focused on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are striving to attract tourists. We will review visa policies and create favorable conditions for reopening,” the minister said.

Regarding proposals on easing visa policies, Minister Hung said the prime minister had recently held a meeting with the relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to clear obstacles facing international tourists.

In the coming periods, immigration policies will be surely relaxed, Hung assured, adding that enterprises should, in the meantime, prepare resources to improve their services.
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20 ... 68548.html

Good move but won't make up for the key markets. Vietnam had 18 million international visitors in 2019; close to 6 million were from China and 4 million from South Korea. Russians are really just important for a few destinations in Vietnam and there were "only" 650,000 of them in 2019, largely concentrated in Mui Ne, Phu Quoc and Nha Trang.
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