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 vacationers’ (already high) interest.
But there’s a neighboring destination that’s 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 neighbors, including Thailand (87.5 per cent) and Singapore (86%). 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% year-over-year, according to recently published figures from the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism.
Several factors explain Vietnam’s growing appeal to tourists. Foremost is access: The first-ever nonstop flight between the US and Vietnam launched on Vietnam Airlines 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. (That’s triple the previous limit.) Vietnam additionally authorized visa-free stays for more than a dozen countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Korea and Spain—and more countries are being added to that list this month.
Then there’s the influx of top-tier hospitality brands: Recent hotel openings have included the Regent Phu Quoc, Capella Hanoi and JW Marriott Hotel & Suites Saigon. Additional properties from the Luxury Collection, Ritz-Carlton Reserve and Park Hyatt are all under construction. And the expansion of the Michelin guide in 2024 gave a global platform to the country’s rising culinary scene. All that makes Vietnam increasingly appealing to luxury travelers who’ve already been to Thailand’s Koh Samui and Phuket, or who are looking for an uncrowded, offbeat alternative to Japan and Singapore.
