Positive growth in international visitors
Data from the Statistics Office (Ministry of Finance), in June 2026, Vietnam welcomed about 1.7 million international visitors, an increase of 14.7% compared to the same period last year. Accumulated in the first 6 months of the year, the number of international visitors reached nearly 12.3 million, an increase of 14.9%, completing nearly half of the target of welcoming 25 million international visitors in 2026.
Notably, this result was achieved in the context of June being the peak period of the international tourist market. The fact that the number of visitors is still maintained at nearly 1.7 million and the growth rate is double-digit shows that the attractiveness of Vietnam's destination is increasingly sustainable.
International visitors arriving by air continued to account for the largest proportion with more than 10.12 million arrivals, equivalent to 82.6% of the total number of visitors. Meanwhile, visitors traveling by road reached 1.92 million arrivals, an increase of 37.5% - the highest increase among the three types of transportation; sea visitors reached more than 209,000 arrivals.
In terms of market, China continues to lead with 2.7 million visitors, followed by South Korea with 2.16 million visitors. Russia rose to become the third largest market with more than 742,000 visitors, an increase of 185.8% compared to the same period last year. Many other markets such as: Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, USA, Australia and New Zealand also recorded positive growth.
These results show that the attractiveness of Vietnamese tourism continues to increase, creating a foundation for the industry to strive to complete the goal of welcoming 25 million international visitors in 2026.
Vietnam tourism breaks through thanks to many advantages
According to the Tourism Information Center, Vietnam's tourism is growing thanks to safe destinations, diverse products, favorable visa policies, effective promotion and international aviation connectivity being expanded.
In the context of a volatile world, these advantages help Vietnam maintain its attractiveness in key markets such as: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and South Asia.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu - General Director of Vitamintour & Events said that China and South Korea are the two largest tourist destinations of Vietnam thanks to their close geographical distance, dense air route network, short travel time and increasing demand for foreign travel.
Meanwhile, the Russian market has grown dramatically thanks to convenient routes and the trend of finding friendly and reasonably priced resort destinations. With the Indian market, the opening of more direct routes and strong promotion activities in recent years are helping Vietnam become a new choice for many tourists.
Besides advantages in landscape, culture, cuisine and competitive costs, the expansion of aviation connectivity along with policies to facilitate international visitors has helped businesses easily build products suitable for each market" - Mr. Hieu said.
Agreeing with this view, Director of the Asian Tourism Development Institute Pham Hai Quynh said that with beautiful natural resources, rich cultural identity, friendly people and a stable political and security environment, Vietnam has many advantages to attract high-quality tourists.
To take advantage of the strength from expanding visa policies, the important thing at this time is to strengthen international communication campaigns, especially with markets and beneficiaries" - Mr. Quynh emphasized.
According to Mr. Quynh, along with strategic steps in improving visa policies in a more open and flexible direction, Vietnam is facing a wide open opportunity to welcome the wave of international visitor growth.
However, to turn advantages into sustainable results, this expert believes that it is necessary to continue investing in tourism infrastructure, improve service quality to meet the requirements of the high-end customer segment; expand cooperation with international tourism businesses, strengthen promotion and advertising destinations and promote human resource training.
The development of new products such as community tourism associated with local culture and livelihoods, ecotourism, cultural tourism, adventure tourism... will contribute to diversifying experiences, improving competitiveness and retaining tourists longer.
