In the context of influence of difficulties in 2014, the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam in the first month of 2015 decreased, compared to the same period in the last year. However, there was a positive sign in the increase of number of foreigners visiting Vietnam - 6.6% bigger than that of the last month. 561,883 of tourists coming to Vietnam travel by air, increasing by 8.2% compared to that in December 2014. Meanwhile, 131,926 tourists come to Vietnam by road, decreasing by 3.4%. Notably, the figure of visitors coming to Vietnam by water was 6,883, which is 5 times higher than that in December 2014.
Compared to the same period in 2014, on one hand, only some markets witness growth in the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam; they are Korea (41.5%), Spain (30.6%), Finland (21.8%), Singapore (16, 4%), and Italy (12.7%). On the other hand, compared with the last month of 2014, the number of visitors from many markets have recovered and returned to growth, such as South Korea, Spain, Finland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Laos, Denmark, England, France Switzerland, the US, Sweden, Indonesia, Norway, Australia, Canada and some other markets.
According to estimation, in January 2015, Vietnam tourism has served 3.5 million domestic tourists, up 12.9% compared to the same period in 2014. The total revenue from tourists reached 20,400 billion dong, increasing 1.0%. 2014 is considered a particularly difficult year for the tourism industry in Vietnam. But, with the interest and support of Vietnam government and proactive effort to overcome difficulties, the Vietnam tourism industry welcomed 7,874,312 international visitors (up 4% compared to 2013), 38.5 million domestic visitors (up 10%), and total revenue from tourism reached 230 trillion (up 15%). The growth rate of total revenue is higher than the passenger traffic growth, reflecting that the quality of tourism in Vietnam has gradually improved deeply.
In 2015, the context of the world is expected to continue to be complicated. But, with the positive signals from the beginning of the year and concentration on implementing Resolution No. 92 / NQ-CP of the Government on promoting tourism development in Vietnam. This is a significantly important Resolution to address inter-branch and inter-regional issues, and macroeconomic policies to enhance the competitiveness of the tourism industry in Vietnam. Resolution is the legal basis for mobilizing resources, and the participation of ministries and agencies and civil society to support and create breakthrough for tourism development in Vietnam. Resolution focuses on five main groups of solutions, including: Raising awareness of society about the development of tourism, strengthening state support for tourism development, creating favorable conditions to ensure security and safety to attract tourists and tourism development, supporting to remove difficulties for tourism enterprises, and strengthening the management of state for tourism development. It is expected to create new motivation for Vietnam tourism to overcome difficulties, and to complete growth target of this year and years to come.