Vietnam far behind regional neighbors in solo travel ranking

By Hoang Phong   September 18, 2023 | 11:21 pm PT
Vietnam far behind regional neighbors in solo travel ranking
A foreign traveler buys sweet cakes from a Vietnamese street vendor in Nha Trang. Photo by Shutterstock
Vietnam lags far behind its Southeast Asian neighbors in this year's ranking of best destinations to travel alone, ranking 49th out of 87 destinations.

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam stood behind Thailand (7th), Singapore (19th), the Philippines (29th), Malaysia (33rd) and Indonesia (37th), according to the ranking compiled by American media company U.S. News & World Report.

The country was above Cambodia (65th) and Myanmar (82nd).

The rankings were based on a global survey of more than 17,000 people recording their perceptions of being culturally accessible, fun, friendly, with pleasant climate, safe, scenic and approachable.

European countries fared best in solo travel, with Spain topping the list, followed by Greece and Italy.

Vietnam started granting three-month tourist visas for citizens from all countries on August 15 and extended the duration of stays in Vietnam from 15 to 45 days for citizens of 13 countries who are unilaterally exempted from visas.

Before the pandemic, Vietnam has been well known as a friendly destination for solo travelers thanks to its cheap food, beautiful natural landscape and low levels of violent crime and terrorist attacks.

However, the country also left a bad impression among solo travelers due to poor traffic safety, harassment and tourist scams.

A series of tourist scams targeting foreign tourists in popular tourist destinations have been recently reported, with authorities trying to crack down on the deep-rooted issue to protect the country's image.

 
 
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