Arya News - The UN Tourism agency highlighted the country`s performance as one of the most striking recoveries worldwide. While Asia–Pacific tourism has reached only about 90 percent of pre-COVID levels, Vietnam is among a handful of destinations, alongside Japan, posting rapid and sustained growth.
HANOI – Việt Nam received 19.15 million international visitors in the first 11 months of 2025, up 20.9 per cent from a year earlier and surpassing its pre-pandemic peak of over 18 million arrivals, official data showed on Saturday.
November arrivals reached 1.98 million, a rise of 14.2 per cent from October and 15.6 per cent from the same month in 2024. It was the country’s third-strongest month this year after January and March, both of which exceeded two million arrivals.
The UN Tourism agency highlighted Việt Nam’s performance as one of the most striking recoveries worldwide. While Asia–Pacific tourism has reached only about 90 per cent of pre-Covid levels, Việt Nam is among a handful of destinations, alongside Japan, posting rapid and sustained growth.
A regional breakdown from the National Statistics Office showed Asia remained the largest source of visitors in 2025 with 15.10 million, up 19.7 per cent year-on-year. Arrivals from Europe rose 37.8 per cent to 2.46 million, marking the fastest growth among all regions. Americas arrivals increased 9.4 per cent to 993,700, while Oceania rose 13.6 per cent to 549,800. Visitors from Africa totalled 51,200, up 9 per cent.
China remained Việt Nam’s biggest market, sending nearly 4.8 million tourists, accounting for one quarter of all foreign arrivals. South Korea followed with more than 3.9 million visitors. Taiwan, the United States and Japan rounded out the top five. India, Cambodia, Russia, Malaysia, and Australia make up the remainder of the top ten.
Arrivals from China grew 43.1 per cent from a year earlier. European markets recorded strong gains following relaxed visa rules for many countries, while Russian visitors rising a hefty 191 per cent to 593,000 in the January–November period.
Air travel continued to dominate, accounting for 84.5 per cent of foreign arrivals, or 16.2 million passengers. Land arrivals reached 2.7 million, up 22.2 per cent, while sea arrivals increased to 228,800, up 3.4 per cent.
Higher tourist volumes lifted service-sector earnings. Revenue from travel services in the first 11 months was estimated at VNĐ85.4 trillion (about US$3.2 billion), up 19.9 per cent year-on-year. Major destinations posted double-digit growth, including the capital city Hà Nội (23.4 per cent), HCM City (22.3 per cent), Quảng Ninh (18.2 per cent), Vĩnh Long (14.1 per cent) and Đà Nẵng (13.2 per cent).
Accommodation and food-service revenue rose 14.6 per cent to VNĐ767.8 trillion, supported by both domestic travel demand and the return of long-haul visitors.
Việt Nam aims to attract 23–25 million international tourists in 2025.