Hanoi (VNA)🌳 – Vietnam welcomed 8.9 million international visitors in the first nine months of this year, exceeding the target of 8 million visitors set for the whole year 2023.

In September alone, the country welcomed more than 1 million foreign visitors, down 13.4% month-on-month but up 2.4 times from the same period last year. In the January-September period, 87.5% of foreign tourists chose to travel to Vietnam by air, 11.8% by road, and the remainder by sea. Revenue from accommodation and catering services in this period rose by 16%, and earnings from travel and tourism services surged by 47.7% year-on-year. The positive results are among key factors prompting the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to propose revising up the international tourist target in 2023 from 8 million to 12.5-13 million. According to the ministry, once the target is adjusted, it will motivate businesses to speed up promotion activities, improve service quality, diversify products, and improve infrastructure. Relevant agencies will create more favourable conditions for visas. Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Doan Van Viet said that Vietnam’s tourism completed the target earlier than planned thanks to positive changes in world and regional tourism trends and its more open visa policies. With the peak season for international tourism around the corner, the industry expects a surge in the number of foreign vacationers thanks to the new visa policy, which was put in place on August 15. Under the law, the e-visa validity period was extended to 90 days from 30 days. Foreigners can enter and exit Vietnam unlimited times and without having to apply for new visas throughout the visa validity period.  The law also permits citizens of the countries entitled to Vietnam’s unilateral visa exemption to stay up to 45 days in the country, instead of 15 days like in the past. Applicants can also have visa granting and temporary residence extensions considered in line with regulations. According to experts, in the remaining months of this year, Vietnam can attract about 1.2 million visitors monthly and even more in December, which is a winter holiday month in target markets. According to data from the General Statistics Office, in the past nine months, the Republic of Korea (RoK), China, and Taiwan (China) were the markets that had the biggest number of visitors to Vietnam with 2.58 million visitors, 1.12 million and 557,000 visitors respectively. In the period, the number of visitors from more than 30 markets to Vietnam increased 2-14 times compared to the same period in 2022. The number of Chinese tourists to Vietnam increased 14 times, while those of Taiwan (China), RoK, Russia, New Zealand, Philippines, Japan, and Malaysia saw an increase of at least four times compared to the same period in 2022. Early this year, Thailand also increased its international tourist target from 10 million to 30 million as the country's tourism managers noticed positive signals after its policy adjustment. Similarly, Indonesia also quickly adjusted its target after seeing the forecast data at the beginning of the year was no longer consistent with the actual situation./.