HANOI, VIETNAM – Vietnam recorded more than 21 million international visitors in 2025, setting a historic tourism benchmark as global travel demand was still recovering from the pandemic.
Record arrivals outpace global recovery
The number of foreign guests reached 21 million in 2025, exceeding the country’s best pre-Covid year by about ten percent. At a time when global tourism flows had only recovered to roughly 90 percent of 2019 levels, Vietnam’s performance was described as a world-class achievement.
“This is a major milestone,”
said Nguyen Trung Khanh, tourism chief.
Visa liberalisation seen as game-changer
According to officials, the main driver of the boom was a broad expansion of visa-free entry. Since March, citizens from twelve countries, including Germany, France and Japan, had been allowed to enter without a visa until 2028, with twelve additional European states added in August.
In total, travellers from 39 countries could enter Vietnam without a visa, and the number of entry points for foreigners was raised to 83. Authorities said this liberalisation was the game-changer that sent arrival numbers surging.
Weak Chinese inflows remain key concern
Despite the record figures, officials pointed to a significant shortfall in visitors from China, one of Vietnam’s most important source markets. Deputy tourism chief Ha Van Sieu acknowledged that promotional efforts in major Chinese cities had not been effective enough.
“There is a lack of a professional national tourism promotion agency,”
said Ha Van Sieu, deputy tourism chief.
An industry expert warned that Vietnam still lagged behind competitors such as Thailand and Indonesia in terms of openness of its visa regime.
Infrastructure strain and digital gap
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stressed that the tourism sector needed restructuring to remain competitive, with a focus on infrastructure, institutions and human resources. Airports and highways had been expanded, but an excessive dependence on air travel was identified as a continuing problem.
Officials said the digital transformation of travel services represented the next major challenge for Vietnam’s tourism industry.
Regional race with Thailand intensifies
Vietnam’s rapid rise put pressure on the long-standing tourism dominance of Thailand in Southeast Asia. In the Henley Passport Index, Vietnam ranked 80th, while Thailand held 35th place and remained better positioned overall.
Even so, Vietnam’s aggressive visa policies and infrastructure investments were reported to be having a visible impact. Observers said the race for the tourism crown of Southeast Asia now had a new and ambitious challenger, and that 2026 would see even fiercer competition within the ASEAN region.
Questions over sustainability of the boom
Analysts noted that more visitors than ever, combined with new airports, new roads and new markets, did not automatically guarantee a stable tourism powerhouse. The key question remained whether Vietnam was on a path to sustainable success, or whether the surge risked fading as quickly as it had arrived.
Uncertainty over how crucial Chinese travellers would be for the next phase of growth continued to hang over the sector’s outlook.