Aviation sector brings most int’l tourists to Vietnam

International tourists at Phu Quoc International Airport in Kien Giang Province. Airplanes remained the primary means of transport to carry international visitors to Vietnam – PHOTO: DAO LOAN

Statistics from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and the General Statistics Office of Vietnam indicate that the strong growth of the aviation sector has brought large numbers of international tourists to the local tourism sector over the past few years.

Nearly 14.4 million foreign visitors traveled to the country by plane last year and a quarter of the country’s total domestic visitors, equivalent to over 21.2 million people, chose to travel by air.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam’s 2019 report also highlighted the strong performance of the sector last year. The number of passengers that passed through local airports is estimated at 115.5 million, up 11.8% against 2018.

Vietnam’s airlines served some 55 million passengers, rising by 11.4% from the year earlier, with an estimated 963,000 flights in 2019, up 7% versus the 2018 figure.

Although the number of visitors travelling to Vietnam by air dominated the transport market in 2019, the proportion of visitors using air services was reportedly lower, dropping from 83.3% in 2018 to 80%.

Meanwhile, the number of tourists visiting Vietnam by road and sea is on the rise.

The number of international tourists visiting the country by road accounted for 18% in 2018. The figure edged up to 18.7% in 2019, while the international tourist arrivals in Vietnam by sea inched up to 1.5% last year from 1.38% in 2018.

Many tour operators expect local sea tourism to grow more strongly in the coming years if special-use tourism ports are set up at tourist sites such as Phu Quoc, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and various destinations in Central Vietnam.