Russia is a traditional international market for Vietnamese tourism, especially Khanh Hoa. In 2019, Khanh Hoa welcomed about 463,000 Russian visitors, accounting for 71.6% of the total number of Russian visitors to Vietnam.
However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and political instability, flights from Russia to Khanh Hoa have been suspended for a long time.
In 2024, Khanh Hoa welcomed about 105,500 Russian visitors, an increase of 206% compared to 2023, but only 22.8% compared to 2019.
In the first three months of 2025, Anex Vietnam has brought more than 15,000 Russian visitors to Khanh Hoa via charter flights. It is expected that from now until the end of the year, there will be 100 flights/month, welcoming at least 150,000 more Russian visitors.
According to the assessment of tourism workers in Nha Trang, Russian tourists often travel in family groups and have a long stay of 7 to 14 days, preferring sea activities such as swimming, sun exposure, diving to see coral, going on yachts, and paragliding.
At resorts and restaurants, the number of Russian visitors has increased significantly. Many traders at Dam Market said that Russian customers spend comfortably, pay less and especially like to buy products such as chestnut mango, cashew, macadamia, Vietnamese tea.
According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Khanh Hoa, in the first quarter of 2025, the province welcomed about 49,100 Russian visitors, an increase of more than 110% over the same period in 2024. In order to attract more visitors, the provincial working group visited Russia, organized a tourism promotion conference in Moscow, and worked with airlines Aeroflot and Anex Tour Moscow.
In addition, Pegas Misr Vietnam Company cooperates with Ikar International Airlines (under Pegas Touristik Group) to operate flights from Khabarovsk Novy to Cam Ranh from April 18.
According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Khanh Hoa, the restoration of the Russia - Cam Ranh direct flight helps diversify the source of visitors, supporting Khanh Hoa to achieve the target of 11.8 million visitors (5.2 million international visitors), revenue of 60,000 billion VND in 2025.
However, the restoration of routes fell at the end of the winter tourist season, so the Department emphasized the need to maintain motivation, increase promotion, and advertise the image of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa tourism to the Russian market through fairs, Famtrip groups, Russian publications, etc.
Despite facing challenges in the shortage of personnel fluent in Russian, competing with many other destinations in the region, Khanh Hoa still has many inherent advantages such as a high-quality accommodation system, diverse services, and 45-day visa exemption for Russian visitors.
Khanh Hoa will continue to implement a sustainable tourism strategy, enhancing digitalization, aiming for high-quality tourism products, suitable for long-term vacation needs and high-spending customers.
From the difficulty of recovering after the pandemic, the signal return of Russian tourists is an important stepping stone for Khanh Hoa to accelerate tourism recovery, towards sustainable development in the coming years.
