Move Aside Singapore, As Vietnam Becomes The Third Most Popular Tourist Destination In Southeast Asia

Vietnam is emerging as Southeast Asia's tourism powerhouse, outpacing its neighbors in recovery and growth. While Thailand remains a top destination, bolstered by its starring role in The White Lotus Season 3, Vietnam has quietly overtaken Singapore as the third most visited country in South East Asia, with 17.5 million international arrivals in 2024.

It follows Malaysia, which claims 25 million visitors, and Thailand, at the top spot with 35 million. Despite being third in the sheer amount of visitors going into the country, Vietnam has outpaced all the southeast Asian countries when it comes to its pace of recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic shut down.

Since the pandemic, Vietnam has regained 98% of its business, while neighbours like Thailand and Singapore only recovered 87.5% and 86% of their domestic business respectively.

Vietnam's growing appeal to tourists could stem from several factors. First and foremost is access. In 2021, Vietnam and the United States launched its first nonstop flight on Vietnam Airlines, from San Francisco to Ho Chi Minh City.

Two years later, Vietnam also released its new electronic visa policies, easing the arrival process for tourists and extending the validity of the visa to 90 days from the previous 30 days. Additionally, Vietnam also authorized visa-free stays for more than a dozen countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and Spain and more countries added to the list.

The second factor that contributes to the tourism of Vietnam is the expansion of luxury hospitality brands, such as the recent openings of Regent Phu Quoc, Capella Hanoi and J Marriott Hotel & Suites Saigon. Additionally, the Michelin Guide spotlighted Vietnam's culinary scene in 2024, attracting high-spending travelers seeking unique experiences.

All these factors make 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.

Mike Nguyen, founder of Ho Chi Minh-based luxury travel boutique company Ansova Travel claims that these factors have driven the year-over-year international booking of the firm by 25%, eclipsing its pre-pandemic business.

He predicts that in 2025, there would an additional 30% increase in bookings, with most travelers from United States. But elite Indian families have also turned to the lavish Vietnamese hotel as their go-to destinations to host their lavish weddings in 2024.

There's no sign Vietnam's growth will slow down anytime soon. By the end of 2025, the country plans to reach a visitation record of 23 million. By 2026, Vietnam hopes to increase its visitor capacity to 25 million.

In the long term, Vietnam hopes to overtake Malaysia on Southeast Asia's most visited list, making Thailand its only remaining competitor.