Based on data released by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Vietnam has experienced a precipitous fall in tourist numbers for the ninth straight month.
Data from VNAT showed that the downward trend, which began in 2014, has continued into the new year as the country welcomed approximately 756,000 visitors last month, a 10% drop compared to the same time period last year.
Travel Daily Asia pointed to the decreasing number of Chinese tourists traveling to Vietnam as one of the main culprits. Combined figures from this January and February showed a 40% drop in Chinese visitors, likely due to the diplomatic spat surrounding the China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s oil rig which was placed into disputed waters off the Vietnamese coast last May.
Vietnam’s tourism industry has also fallen victim to Russia’s economic problems with a 25% drop in visitor from the country during the first two months of 2015.
South Korea now leads the way in foreign tourists to Vietnam with 262,000 arrivals in January and February, up 68% and 55% respectively.
Though Vietnam enjoyed a 4% uptick in overall international arrivals in 2014 compared to the previous year, the figure masks the downward trend that began last May.
Last December, VNAT announced that it was targeting 8.3 - 8.5 million foreign tourists in 2015, up from 7.87 million in 2014.
