Vietnam receives 15.8 million foreign tourists in first 11 months

By Hoang Phong December 5, 2024 | 08:47 pm PT

Foreign tourists at Hanoi's Train Street, November 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Giang

There have been 15.8 million foreign arrivals to Vietnam in the first 11 months of this year, up 41% year-on-year, but the country is still playing catch-up with Southeast Asian peers Thailand and Malaysia.

South Korea remained Vietnam's leading source of tourists with 4.13 million visitors, followed by mainland China (3.35 million), Taiwan (1.17 million), the U.S. (706,000), and Japan (655,000), according to data released by the General Statistics Office on Friday.

The top 10 included India (445,642), Malaysia (440,895), Australia (439,734), Cambodia (413,572), and Thailand (377,283).

Vietnam needs another 2.2 million to hit its target of 18 million, the pre-Covid number.

As of November Thailand received 31 million foreign tourists whose spent 1.46 trillion baht (US$42.3 billion).

Malaysia received over 20 million tourists as of October.

Last year too Malaysia and Thailand were the most visited countries in Southeast Asia.