Tourism emerges as source of growth for Vietnam in 2023: HSBC report

Friday, February 10, 2023

Tourism has emerged as a source of growth for Vietnam to mitigate the challenges ahead in 2023 despite near-term trade headwinds, according to the “Vietnam at a glance” report released by HSBC on February 6.

The report stated that January’s data showed Vietnam continues to face difficulties in trade and the inflationary pressure of increasing prices.

However, in spite of slowing trade, there are still pockets of resilience in Vietnam’s economy, and tourism will be a key one in 2023.

Vietnam’s domestic tourism has seen an upward trend following its re-opening last March, easily surpassing its 2022 target of 60 million to over 100 million tourists.

Meanwhile, international tourism witnessed a slow recovery post COVID-19. Earlier it accounted for 60% of tourism receipts but post Covid pandemic, only 3.6 million international tourists visited Vietnam which is only 20% of 2019’s level.

But there are good reasons to expect a more meaningful recovery, in particular after China’s reopening, HSBC said, adding that a 50-80% return of Chinese tourists can be achievable, if flight constraints can be solved and visa entry requirements can be eased further.

One of the reasons hindering arrival of international tourists is the lack of visa exemptions for major markets including mainland China, the US and Australia. Visa exemptions for some European markets allow travellers to stay up to only 15 days.

Officials are considering an extension of the visa waiver period to 30 days and the issuance of electronic visas for citizens from all markets.

Another way to facilitate tourism is not just by improving its traditional infrastructure, but also diversifying tourism products.

HSBC noted that sports tourism, which is included in the tourism industry vision from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), can help to attract high-spending travellers.

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