HCMC most sought-after destination by American tourists for 2023: Kayak

By Hoang Vu December 27, 2022 | 04:00 am PT

Fireworks light up Saigon's sky, April 2022. Photo by Quoc Duy

American tourists are expressing a big interest in visiting Ho Chi Minh City next year after Vietnam lifted most Covid restrictions and resumed international flights, a report says.

HCMC topped a list of 10 most trending tourist destinations with the frequency of searches up 769% year-on-year, according to the report by U.S. online travel agency and metasearch engine Kayak.

HCMC was followed by Taiwan's Taipei City, New Zealand's Auckland, Singapore and Hong Kong.

To compile the list, Kayak considered round-trip and economy flights for search dates between January 1 and November 20, 2022, with travel dates scheduled from January 1 to December 31, 2023.

To find year-over-year-percent change, the same search dates in 2021 and travel dates in 2022 were considered.

HCMC is famous for its French colonial heritage, modern skyscrapers and wartime museums.

The United States has sent the second highest number of visitors to Vietnam after South Korea since the country reopened to foreign tourists on March 15.

According to a recent poll by tourism market research firm Destination Analysts, in 2023, 31% of Americans are more interested in international than domestic travel in 2023.