While the rate of foreign visitors to Vietnam is falling in a precarious manner, the opposite is true for Vietnamese travelers who are leaving the country in record numbers.
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According to Customs Today, citing the Vietnam Travel Association (VTA), over 5 million Vietnamese spent their holidays abroad in 2014, a 20% increase over the previous year.
The VTA expects this figure to rise in 2015, sapping the country of needed domestic tourist spending.
“If each Vietnamese vacationer spends an average of US$300 per trip, Vietnam loses some $1.5 billion from tourist spending annually,” said the association’s deputy chairman Vu The Binh.
The trend likely reflects a similar one in China wherein the increasing spending power of the country’s middle class has allowed people to afford international travel for the first time. After years of breakneck economic growth, China has been the world’s largest outbound tourism market since 2012.
While Vietnam may be becoming a new market for travel firms around the globe, the country is facing a domestic tourism shortfall.
A report released by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) last month found that Vietnam has experienced a precipitous fall in tourist numbers for the ninth straight month.
Data from the VNAT report showed that the downward trend, which began in 2014, has continued into the new year as the country welcomed approximately 756,000 visitors in February, a 10% drop compared to the same time period last year.
“Industry insiders have pointed to the country’s lack of diversified tourism products, rigid visa rules, and a polluted environment,” reports Customs Today.
[Photo via Goc Tri Thuc]
