Close to 11 million international tourists, or 86.9 percent, visited this Southeast Asian country by air.

Those traveling to the country by road and by sea accounted for 1.5 million and 126,100, up fourfold and 40.2-fold year on year, respectively.

Asians constituted the largest group of foreign tourists to Vietnam, with more than 9.78 million people, rising 3.8-fold versus last year’s figure.

The country served over 1.4 million visitors from Europe, 903,800 from the Americas, and 428,100 from Oceania, all up more than twofold year over year.

The GSO said that South Korea and China sent the largest numbers of visitors to Vietnam with close to 3.6 million and some 1.75 million arrivals, respectively.

In December alone, the country welcomed around 1.4 million international tourist arrivals, inching up 11 percent month on month and surging nearly 94 percent year over year.

Meanwhile, five million Vietnamese traveled abroad this year, up twofold compared to that of last year.

Of them, more than one million Vietnamese embarked on trips to Thailand. Over 536,800 opted to visit Japan, which was an all-time high and exceeded the 2019 figure, according to the Vietnam Tourism Association.

Vietnam has served an estimated 108 million domestic visitors, 5.8 percent higher than its target set earlier this year.

The fact that Vietnam adopted more relaxed visa policies and played host to many international music events and concerts throughout this year made the country a more appealing destination for international tourists.

Concert-goers who came to Vietnam also embarked on tours to other destinations neighboring the concert venues, thereby helping contribute to the local tourism and economy.

Experts in the industry anticipated that Vietnam could serve up to 15 million international visitor arrivals next year, providing that there are no unexpected events.

Hanoi greets 24 million visitors in 2023

Hanoi recorded an estimated 24 million tourist arrivals this year, reflecting a remarkable annual increase of 27%, according to the municipal Tourism Department.
Among the total, foreign visitors reached 4 million, marking an impressive 266.7% year-on-year growth, while the remainders were domestic tourists, exhibiting a yearly rise of 16.3%.
The total tourism revenue was estimated at 87.65 trillion VND (3.65 billion USD), indicating a substantial 45.5% surge compared to the previous year.
Director of the department Dang Huong Giang highlighted the sector's focus on building tours and tourism products grounded in traditional cultural values, adding that the introduction of 15 enticing night tourism products also garnered positive feedback from tourists.
The department held various programmes to enhance its strengths in tourism products such as culinary, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions), and health care tourism. In collaboration with districts, suburban areas and travel agencies, the sector offered new experiential tours that are linked with heritage and relic sites, as well as craft villages. River tourism products were also developed to connect tourist destinations along the Red and Duong Rivers, she said. 

Also this year, Hanoi has been honoured by the World Travel Awards with several accolades, including "Leading City Destination in Asia", "Leading City Break Destination in Asia" and "Leading Tourist Board in Asia”.
The city also received its first-ever award as the "World's Best Golf Destination" from the World Golf Awards.  It boasted 48 out of 103 Michelin Guide-selected restaurants, with three of them achieving Michelin one-star status. According to TripAdvisor, Hanoi ranked 17th out of 25 renowned travel destinations and held the third position among the top 20 culinary destinations for food enthusiasts.
Giang revealed that next year, the city will strive to serve some 26.5 million tourists, up 10.4% annually. This includes 5 million foreign and 21.5 million domestic tourists, showing respective year-on-year rises of 25% and 7.5%. The total revenue is projected to hike by 13.8% annually to roughly 99.77 trillion VND./.