Vietnam wraps up 2025 with 21.2 million foreign arrivals, an all-time high

By Hoang Phong January 5, 2026 | 12:43 am PT

Foreign tourists joint a New Year countdown event on Nguyen Hue pedestrian street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, Dec. 31, 2025. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Vietnam welcomed a record number of foreign tourists in 2025 with 21.2 million, up 20.4% from the previous year and the highest ever, according to General Statistics Office.

Mainland China was Vietnam's biggest source of visitors last year with 5.2 million arrivals, up 41% year-on-year, followed by South Korea with 4.3 million and Taiwan with 1.23 million.

The U.S. ranked fourth with 848,000, followed by Japan with 814,000.

The rest of the top 10 were India (746,000), Russia (689,000), Cambodia (687,000), Malaysia (573,000) and Australia (548,000).

Tourism industry insiders attributed Vietnam's strong performance to visa reforms.

In March the government decided to extend visa exemptions until 2028 for citizens of 12 countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the U.K.

In August it waived visa requirements for stays of up to 45 days for citizens of 12 more countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

This expanded the unilateral visa waiver list to 24 countries and the total number including bilateral waivers to 39.

Recently the government added 41 more international border gates where foreigners can use e-visas for entry and exit, bringing the total number of such entry points to 83.

This year, Vietnam targets 25 million foreign arrivals.