Tourism has always been one of the key economic sectors in Vietnam. In parallel with becoming an attractive destination in the world, Vietnam’s tourism is currently facing many challenges so that it is necessary to have activities to promote tourism’s recovery and development.

Tourism is one of the key economic sectors in Vietnam

Overview of Vietnam tourism

Favored by nature with countless beautiful landscapes and unique culture, Vietnam is having a strong attraction and drawing attention from international tourists. The number of tourists and revenue from tourism had continuously made a great contribution to the GDP growth of the country. Tourism has contributed to preserving the value of cultural heritage and natural resources as well as promoting the image of Vietnam to the world.

Vietnam tourism is receiving attention from international visitors

However, the Covid-19 pandemic has strongly affected Vietnam’s tourism industry, especially in the number of international visitors and businesses in the industry:

• According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in 2020, the number of international visitors only reached 3.7 million, decreased 80% compared to 2019. Total revenue from tourists in 2020 reached VND 312.2 trillion, decreased 57.8% compared to 2019. In 2021, Vietnam had around 3,800 international tourists, the total revenue from tourists is estimated at about VND 180,000 billion, decreased 42% over the same period in 2020.
• By the end of 2021, over 35% of businesses have applied for the revocation of their business licenses, only about 2,000 businesses left have an international travel business license nationwide, of which many have had to temporarily close or stop working.

Vietnam tourism is facing challenges

Vietnam has totally opened for tourism activities since March 15, 2022, welcoming international tourists to return with reasonable policies in the new normal. Despite that, the number of international visitors to Vietnam is still modest.

In April 2022, Vietnam greeted only 80,000 visitors. The number was 172,900 in May. Generally, in the first 5 months of this year, 365,300 visitors came to Vietnam. Previously, Vietnam’s tourism set a target of 5 million international visitors in 2022. From that, it can be seen the number of international visitors is still far from the target.

Vietnam has new policies to promote tourism, but the number of visitors is still modest

Despite many difficulties, Vietnam’s tourism also has positive recovery signals. Data from the Google Destination Insights shows that the number of global searches about Vietnam’s tourism has increased sharply since the beginning of 2022. Besides, in September, The 16th International Travel Expo Ho Chi Minh City (ITE HCMC 2022) is held and expected to promote the beautiful image of the country and the people here, as well as to provide co-operation opportunities between domestic and foreign businesses as breakthroughs in the process of recovering and developing inbound tourism.

ITE HCMC 2022 – Opportunity to create breakthroughs in attracting international tourists

ITE HCMC 2022 is officially held in September 2022 with the theme: “Growing Forward Together” and expected to have thousands of visitors, international buyers and exhibitors in order to exchange and explore breakthrough opportunities in tourism after the pandemic.

The 16th International Travel Expo Ho Chi Minh City (ITE HCMC 2022)

ITE HCMC 2022 is highly appreciated by experts for its timeliness on the ground that Vietnam has just opened to tourists and at the stage of restructuring the structure of tourism after Covid-19 pandemic, especially international tourism. This is an opportunity for businesses across the country to introduce and promote their images, cultural values, resources and unique tourism products to the visitors, and at the same time increase their connection among units in the industry.