Foreign tourists to Vietnam drop 66.6 percent in eight-month period on pandemic

However, most of the arrivals were recorded before March 22, when Vietnam closed border to control the spread of the coronavirus.

In August alone, 16,300 arrivals, up 16.9% over the previous month and down 98.9% over the same period last year.

In recent month, Vietnam allowed foreign diplomats, investors, highly skilled workers and experts, along with some flights repatriating Vietnamese citizens. All foreign entries are quarantined for 14 days upon arrival.

Among the 3.8 million arrivals since early this year, 3.05 million arrived in Vietnam by air, while 580,000 and 140,000 entered the country via land and sea routes.

Visitors from Asia, accounting for more than 73 percent of the total number of international arrivals to Vietnam this year, fell by nearly 70 percent over the same period last year.

Arrivals from key markets such as China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia all posted record losses of 72 percent, 70.5 percent, 67 percent, 68 percent, 59 percent, and 70 percent, respectively, within the eight months of 2020.

However, arrivals from neighbouring Cambodia increased by nearly 71 percent, according to the GSO.

Visitors from Europe in the past eight months were estimated to fall by nearly 55 percent over the same period of 2019.

Arrivals from the Americas are estimated to have decreased by more than 65 percent compared to the first eight months of 2019.

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Source: Viet Nam News