Move over Singapore, Vietnam is now Southeast Asia’s third-most-visited country

Thailand may be fully in the spotlight, where Southeast Asian tourism is concerned. Its starring role in Season 3 of The White Lotus has supercharged holidaymakers’ already high interest.

But there is a neighbouring destination that is one-upping it in terms of growth: Vietnam now ranks as the third-most-visited country in Southeast Asia, with 17.5 million international arrivals in 2024, edging ahead of Singapore. It follows Malaysia, which claims 25 million visitors, and Thailand, at the top spot with 35 million.

Those figures make Vietnam the regional leader in terms of its tourism recovery pace, a metric that continues to track – five years after the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the world – how much tourism business each nation has recouped from its 2019 baseline.

Vietnam has regained 98 per cent of that business, outpacing all of its neighbours, including Thailand (87.5 per cent) and Singapore (86 per cent). And by all accounts, Vietnam’s popularity is continuing to soar: nearly 4 million international tourists visited in January and February, representing an increase of 30.2 per cent year over year, according to recently published figures from the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism.

Tourists visit the Merlion statue on Singapore’s Marina Bay waterfront earlier this month. Photo: AFP

Several factors explain Vietnam’s growing appeal to tourists. Foremost is access: the first-ever nonstop commercial flight between the United States and Vietnam launched in 2021, from San Francisco to Ho Chi Minh City. New electronic visa policies followed in 2023, easing the arrival process for tourists and allowing for stays as long as 90 days – triple the previous limit.

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