Vietnam Tourism maintains growth momentum in the first 7 months of 2026
Nearly 14 million international arrivals and positive signals during the low season
After 7 months, Vietnam welcomed 13.9 million international arrivals, an increase of 13.8% over the same period and completing about 56% of the 25 million target. July alone reached 1.67 million arrivals, up 6.6% compared to July 2025.
A positive point is that July belongs to the low season for international visitors to Vietnam, but the number of visitors remained nearly the same as in June. Compared to the 1.678 million arrivals in June, July only decreased by about 0.5%, showing that demand did not weaken significantly entering the summer.
International arrivals to Vietnam did not decline during the low season (Photo source: collected)
Pressure to complete the target of 25 million international arrivals
However, while nearly 14 million visitors is a positive result, to complete the target of 25 million arrivals, Vietnam still needs to welcome about 11.1 million more visitors in the last 5 months of the year, equivalent to an average of about 2.22 million visitors per month. Meanwhile, the average for the first 7 months of the year only reached nearly 1.99 million arrivals/month.
This means the 25 million target is still feasible but not easy. From August to December, the number of visitors needs to be about 12% higher than the average of the first 7 months. Vietnam must take very good advantage of the year-end international peak season, while avoiding shocks regarding geopolitics, fuel, exchange rates, flight routes, or natural disasters.
Increasingly diverse international visitor market structure
China and South Korea continue to be the two pillar markets
The market structure is becoming more diverse, but Northeast Asia remains the pillar. China continues to lead with about 3.1 million arrivals, accounting for 22.2%; South Korea stands second with 2.4 million arrivals. These two markets combined account for nearly 40% of total international visitors.
Compared to the 6-month data, in July alone, it is estimated that Vietnam welcomed approximately:
* 400,000 Chinese visitors;
* 240,000 South Korean visitors;
* 121,000 Russian visitors;
* 56,000 Japanese visitors.
This is only an approximate calculation based on rounded figures in the report, but it shows that China and South Korea still generate very large absolute numbers of visitors.
China and South Korea continue to lead international visitor markets to Vietnam.
International visitor market expands beyond Northeast Asia
A point of progress is that the Top 10 is no longer focused solely on Northeast Asia. Russia, the United States, Australia, India, Cambodia, and the Philippines are all present, reflecting a more diverse international visitor market.
This is an important movement. Vietnam still needs a large volume of visitors from nearby markets to ensure aviation, hotel, and service capacity, but must simultaneously develop far-off markets to increase length of stay and spending.
Russia and Europe create new momentum for Vietnam tourism
The Russian market recovers strongly and exceeds pre-pandemic levels
Russia is the most prominent phenomenon. Russia reached 864,000 arrivals, an increase of up to 174%, maintaining third place among source markets and ranking first in Europe.
Notably, the number of Russian visitors is now more than double that of the same period in 2019. This proves that the recovery is not just an effect from the low base of 2025, but has exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
Three factors are supporting the Russian market:
* direct flights being restored and frequency increased;
* demand for winter escapes and long beach vacations;
* Vietnam’s advantages in price, climate, resorts, and favorable length of stay.
However, the rapid growth rate also raises issues regarding service capacity: Russian-speaking guides, receptionists, customer care staff, menus, medical services, payments, and digital content in Russian have not yet kept pace. If visitor numbers increase without increasing service capacity, Vietnam may miss the opportunity to turn Russia’s return into a sustainable market.
Russian-speaking human resources at Furama Resort Danang contribute to meeting the increasing demand of the Russian market in Vietnam.
European visitors drive trends for long stays and deep experiences
Europe increased by 53.4%: growth is showing signs of “quality improvement,” increasing by an average of 53.4%, the highest among regions. Besides Russia, Poland increased by 51.3%, the Czech Republic 28.6%, Sweden 24.7%, and Switzerland 21.7%.
This is a result with greater significance than the number of visitors itself.
European visitors usually have:
* long travel distances;
* long holidays;
* demand to visit many regions;
* relatively high spending levels;
* interest in culture, heritage, nature, and sustainability.
The strong growth of this group shows that the visa exemption policy is proving effective. But a visa only helps a visitor decide to come. To make them stay longer, Vietnam needs more rail tourism, cycling, trekking, wellness, craft villages, agricultural experiences, community tourism, and 14–21 day multi-regional itineraries.
Therefore, the assessment in a Vietnam Tourism report that Europe reflects a “shift in quality” is well-founded. However, to fully confirm this, the tourism industry needs to publish more indicators such as length of stay, average spending, repeat rates, and revenue by market.
India and the Philippines expand potential for resort tourism and events
India and the Philippines continue to be two priority markets. The Philippines reached 417,000 arrivals, up 63.6%, while India reached 553,000 arrivals, up 42.9%.
The Philippines has advantages:
* close proximity;
* convenient English communication;
* demand for resorts, cuisine, and shopping;
* potential for intra-regional aviation connectivity.
India has greater potential in terms of scale, especially in the segments of:
* destination weddings;
* MICE;
* multi-generational families;
* beach resorts;
* high-end visitors;
* cinema;
* spiritual tourism.
With 553,000 arrivals after 7 months, India has the potential to approach or exceed the one million mark if aviation connectivity and products continue to expand.
But the Indian market cannot develop through general promotion alone. Vietnam needs teams that understand rituals, vegetarian food, Jain food, large group needs, event spaces, service timing, and the booking behavior of Indian guests.
Intra-regional ASEAN tourism still has much room for development
ASEAN is growing fast but still has great potential. Cambodia increased by 40.8%, Singapore 31%, Indonesia 27.3%, and Malaysia 21.6%. This shows that intra-regional ASEAN tourism continues to be an important driver.
The advantages of this group are:
* short flight times;
* easy to develop city breaks;
* visitors likely to travel multiple times;
* suitable for festivals, events, shopping, cuisine, and weekend entertainment.
However, Vietnam has not yet fully exploited the advantages of an ASEAN market of over 680 million people. We need more 3–5 day products, weekend flights, event tours, music, sports, food festivals, and more flexible city break packages.
Long-haul markets open opportunities to enhance tourism value
The steady increase in long-haul markets is a very good signal. The United States increased by 18.3%, Canada 25.1%, Australia 22.5%, and New Zealand 22.4%.
These are all markets with good spending levels and lengths of stay. Growth of over 20% from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand shows that Vietnam is gaining clearer appeal among long-haul visitors.
However, weaknesses remain:
* lack of some direct flight routes;
* long-stay resort products are not yet diverse enough;
* nightlife and shopping activities are still limited;
* inter-regional connectivity is not seamless;
* marketing content for each specific market is not deep enough.
Conditions for Vietnam to complete the target of 25 million international visitors
To reach 25 million visitors, the last 5 months of the year must average about 2.22 million arrivals per month.
This level is high but not impossible, as January and February 2026 both exceeded 2.2 million arrivals, with January reaching about 2.45 million.
Conditions to achieve the goal include:
* China continues to recover strongly;
* South Korea maintains stability;
* Russia faces no flight route interruptions;
* Europe benefits from winter and visa exemptions;
* India, ASEAN, and Australia continue to grow;
* aviation has enough operational capacity;
* promotion goes hand-in-hand with products that can be sold immediately;
* destinations do not compete through excessive price reductions.
Vietnam tourism needs to shift from increasing visitor numbers to enhancing value
The report clearly shows visitor numbers and growth rates, but has not yet answered four important questions:
How long do visitors stay?
13.9 million arrivals do not yet indicate the total number of overnight stays and the differences between each market.
How much do visitors spend?
Increasing European and far-off market visitors is seen as a shift in quality, but spending data is needed for verification.
Where do visitors go in Vietnam?
National figures do not yet show the distribution between Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Phu Quoc, Hue, and new destinations.
Do visitors return?
The ratio of first-time vs. repeat visitors is a very important indicator for a mature destination.
Therefore, the next phase of Vietnam’s tourism statistics should add KPIs for length of stay, visitor spending, repeat rate, and revenue per visitor, instead of just focusing on the number of entries.
Linking destination ecosystems for visitors to stay longer and experience more
According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Quynh, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Hotel Association, the result of nearly 14 million international arrivals in the first 7 months of the year shows that policies on visas, aviation connectivity, and tourism promotion are proving effective. However, to maintain sustainable growth momentum, the tourism industry needs to shift from a mindset of promoting individual destinations to building linked destination ecosystems. Each locality needs to develop characteristic products such as beach resorts, heritage, culture, cuisine, wellness, golf, community tourism, or ecology, while connecting them into inter-regional itineraries so that visitors stay longer, experience more, and return many times. According to him, this approach not only helps increase the length of stay and spending levels of visitors but also distributes visitor flows more reasonably, reducing pressure on overcrowded destinations, while creating development opportunities for many localities with great potential that have not been exploited proportionately.
Furama Resort Danang – An integrated resort with many experiences from accommodation, dining, entertainment, etc., is a perfect illustration of a “destination ecosystem”. (Source: photo)[/caption>
13.9 million visitors is an encouraging result. But the more important figure will be the amount of value those visitors leave behind for hotels, restaurants, retail, transport, culture, the community, and the local economy.
In other words: “The 25 million visitor target is still important to absorb supply and create jobs. But the measure of Vietnam tourism’s maturity must be that each visitor stays longer, spends more, and has more reasons to return.”
