Searches from China for destinations in Vietnam rebounded almost to pre-COVID levels during the 2024 Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, celebrated from February 8 to 14, reaching 95 percent of the 2020 figure, according to digital travel platform Agoda.

Chinese tourists’ great interest in Vietnamese destinations during Tet signals a robust revival in travel in the Southeast Asian nation in 2024, said Vu Ngoc Lam, director of Agoda in Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Nha Trang, a popular beach city in south-central Khanh Hoa Province, Da Nang, and Phu Quoc Island off southern Kien Giang Province were among the most-searched destinations in Vietnam by Chinese travelers.

Vietnam has become one of Chinese visitors’ favorite destinations due to its diversity of cultural features and spectacular landscapes.

In 2020, China took the lead among countries searching for Vietnam tourism.

However, the COVID-19 outbreak in 2021 and border closures prevented Chinese tourists from touring Vietnam.

Following the relaxation of travel restrictions between the two nations, the search volume from China for Vietnam in 2022 and 2023 accounted for only three percent of the figure recorded in 2020.

China had previously been the largest tourist source market in the world. Southeast Asia was one of Chinese tourists’ most sought-after destinations.

However, Vietnam and other nations in the region have seen lower-than-expected Chinese arrivals since the pandemic was put under control globally.

China sent some 1.74 million tourists to Vietnam in 2023, making the former the latter’s second-largest source market.

Before the pandemic, China was always Vietnam’s biggest source market, with over 5.8 million Chinese travelers visiting the latter in 2019, local media reported.

The Outbox Company, a market intelligence company based in Vietnam that specializes in travel, hospitality, destination, and tourism, attributed the reduction in Chinese arrivals to the country’s slow post-pandemic economic recovery.

As such, the number of Chinese tourists entering Southeast Asian nations remained modest in 2023.

Some nations in the region such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have rushed to waive visa requirements for Chinese citizens to entice these tourists to their countries.

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