The most prominent tourism-related highlights of 2021 in Vietnam were surely the COVID-related topics. The pandemic had a grave influence on this sector of Vietnamese economy, visible on every corner of the country’s tourist areas and city centers, once eagerly frequented by foreign travelers.
The number of foreign arrivals plummeted from 18 million in 2019 to the shocking 300 thousand in 2021. The main reason for this phenomenon was undoubtedly the closure of Vietnamese borders introduced as a safety precaution in March 2020. At that point, nobody could have imagined that the possibility to travel in and out of Vietnam would be virtually rendered to a halt for over two years.
Domestic tourism enterprises were in no better situation, since they suffered heavy losses due to local lockdowns and other restrictions of movement between provinces, communes, and even wards inside of one city. The apogee of these hard times was the 3-month total lockdown of Vietnam’s largest urban area – Ho Chi Minh City and its surroundings. Over 10 million residents of the city and commuters from the neighboring provinces – more than 10% of the country’s population – became unable not only to travel to their distant hometowns, but also to leave their homes without a viable reason, therefore crippling the last hope of the market’s tourism service providers, local hotel owners, and restaurateurs.
All of the abovementioned events rendered the previously rapidly growing tourism sector of Vietnam to a virtual halt.
Luckily, it seems that the worst period of COVID-19-related difficulties is already behind us, and local tour agencies, accommodation providers, as well as all other tourism sector enterprises are about to thrive once again.
As of May 2022, while this article is being written, the situation in Vietnam has more or less returned to the pre-pandemic state. The government and relevant ministries agreed upon the re-opening of the country’s borders in mid-March, and have since then removed almost all of the remaining restrictions and requirements for travelers entering the country. The arriving guests – both vaccinated and non-vaccinated – are no longer subject to quarantine of any kind; and since April 27th of this year, they neither have to hand in their health declarations at their point of entry – at least until the end of SEA Games 31 – the event also known as the “Southeast Asian Olympics”. The only remaining pandemic-related requirement for arriving foreigners is to present the negative results of a COVID-19 test.
These actions have already brought a fraction of the once humongous tourist traffic back to the S-shaped country: The number of foreign arrivals to the country in April 2022 was 4 times higher compared to the same period of the previous year; around 91 000 international tourists arrived in the country during the 1st quarter of 2022 – a year-on-year increase of impressive 89%!
Each and every business owner from the Vietnamese tourism sector is now looking with new hope towards the upcoming high season of 2022-23, which is regarded as the first rebound period after two years of continuous difficulties. These hopes are not baseless, as the domestic tourism sector has already started booming once more, thanks to the two long weekends that occurred in April and May. Numerous travelers started pouring into all of the country’s classical domestic destinations, such as Hoi An, Da Lat, Vung Tau, Sapa, among others. Consequently, Vietnam-based international inbound tour operators are also preparing for the upcoming boom in the tourism sector.
Stretched over more than 2000 kilometers, Vietnam is one of the most diverse tourism destinations in the region, scenery-wise. Boasting numerous UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as the legendary Ha Long Bay, Hoi An Ancient Town, or the Complex of Hue Monuments, Vietnam had already become a prominent destination for sightseeing trips before the recent pandemic. It is also a perfect place for exploratory tours, with spots like “The Roof of Indochina” – Fansipan mountain and the surrounding Sapa region, filled to the brim with people from numerous colorful ethnic groups, each proud of their own heritage. The multitude of seaside resorts from Central to South including two islands – Phu Quoc and Con Dao, are creating amazing leisure opportunity for all kinds of travelers.
In other words – Vietnam possesses everything that may attract countless numbers of international travelers to spend their holidays here, allowing the country’s quite battered tourism sector to re-start developing and thriving, bringing in even more international traffic than in the pre-pandemic times.
Author
Lukasz Kozlowski
CEO & Co-founder at MakeYourAsia
Łukasz moved to Ho Chi Minh City in 2015 from his hometown Poznan in Poland.
Together with a group of like-minded business he founded in 2016 MakeYourAsia – a travel and business service company.
He organized many events and trade fairs for Polish agencies and companies not only in Vietnam but in the whole ASEAN region.
Always in the center of Polish business events in Vietnam, provides assistance to CEE businesses aiming at entering Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian markets.