Southeast Asia Information Port (www.dnyxxg.com) – Vietnam's tourism industry has achieved remarkable results recently, receiving nearly 21.2 million international tourists and 137 million domestic tourists in 2025, setting a new historical record. Entering 2026, Vietnam's tourism industry has had a strong start, showing many positive signs of development.
According to data from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, during the four-day New Year's Day holiday in 2026, Vietnam received approximately 3.5 million tourists. Key tourist cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang saw significant year-on-year increases in visitor numbers, laying a solid foundation for the peak tourist season throughout the year and contributing to achieving the target of 25 million international tourists and 150 million domestic tourists this year.
Vietnam's tourism development has gained widespread international recognition. In The New York Times' 2026 list of the world's best destinations, Vietnam ranked 34th, praised as a rapidly growing tourism powerhouse, achieving a leap forward in both reception capacity and the quality of the tourism experience. The United Nations Tourism Organization (UNWTO) points out that Vietnam's tourism industry has recovered to over 110% of pre-COVID-19 levels, far exceeding the Asia-Pacific region's average recovery level of approximately 90%.
Notably, Vietnam's international tourist structure continues to optimize, with travel times becoming more balanced and no longer concentrated in the traditional peak season. Traditional source markets such as China and South Korea have seen strong recovery, emerging markets like India and the Middle East are experiencing rapid growth, and the potential of long-haul, high-spending markets such as Europe and North America is becoming increasingly apparent. This diversified source market structure is gradually taking shape, laying a solid foundation for stable growth in the tourism industry.
Industry experts say that Vietnam's tourism industry has now passed the recovery phase and needs to focus on the quality of growth in the future, enhancing the actual value of tourists to socio-economic development. Nguyen Anh Tuan, director of the Tourism Economics Research Institute, suggests that Vietnam's tourism sector should improve the quality of tourism products and services, create a friendly destination environment, formulate precise promotional strategies, and promote the sustainable and high-quality development of the tourism industry. (End)
