Agoda, a leading global online accommodation reservations provider, has used new bookings data to assess 10 most popular Tet, Lunar New Year, holiday destinations for Vietnamese this year.
Traditionally, Tet is a time when Vietnamese people return home all over the country and the world to join their family for important Lunar New Year rituals, and to visit relatives and friends as part of the festival tradition.
However, the long holiday is tempting increasing numbers of Vietnamese citizens to travel within and outside the country.
This year, Bangkok has overtaken many of famous Vietnamese tourist hotspots like Da Lat, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc. Singapore came sixth on the list, while Kuala Lumpur took the ninth position.
Tourists visit a food stall in Bangkok selling popular Thai street foods. Photo by Shutterstocks/TamDi |
Around one million Vietnamese tourists touched down in Thailand in 2018, putting Vietnam among the kingdom's top 10 tourism markets, according to a recent report by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
Citizens of ASEAN member nations can travel within the region without applying for visa and stay as a tourist for a maximum of 30 days.
Bangkok’s high popularity among Vietnamese holiday goers is reflected in the fact that 30 airlines have direct routes connecting Hanoi and Saigon with the capital of Thailand.
The Year of the Pig begins on February 5 and the Vietnamese government has approved a nine-day (February 2-10) break for the holiday.
Rising overseas travel is a result of economic development and an expanding middle class, said Nguyen Cong Hoan, vice general director of Hanoi Redtour.
"A more affluent younger generation now wants to see the world. They are willing to spend more money on experiencing new destinations," he said.
According to Mastercard, Vietnam has the second fastest growing outbound market in the Asia Pacific region after Myanmar, with projected annual growth of 9.5 percent between 2016 and 2021.
Mastercard has forecast that some 7.5 million Vietnamese travelers will venture outside the country in 2021.