Tourism in Vietnam is a component of the modern Vietnamese economy. In 2019, Vietnam received 18 million international arrivals, up from 2.1 million in the year 2000. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism is following a long-term plan to diversify the tourism industry, which brings foreign exchange into the country.[1]
Tourist arrivals in Vietnam have continued to rise in recent years. In 2008, Vietnam received 4.218 million international tourists, in 2009 the number was 3.8 million, down 11%. In 2012, Vietnam received 6.84 million tourists.[2] This was a 13% increase from 2011 figure of 6 million international visitors, which was itself a rise of 2 million visitors relative to 2010 arrivals. In 2016, Vietnam welcomed 10 million international visitors which represented a 26% increase from the previous year.[3][4] In 2019, Vietnam with 18 million international visitors was the fifth most visited country in the Asia-Pacific region as per the World Tourism rankings released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.[5] The Vietnamese tourist industry was severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with visitor numbers reduced to 3.84 million in 2020, comparable to 2009 numbers.[6] Visitors have steadily increased after the pandemic, reaching 12.6 million in 2023.[7]