Vietnam welcomed nearly 12.3 million international visitors between January and June, up 14.9 per cent from a year earlier, according to the General Statistics Office. The figure represents almost half of the country's target of 25 million foreign arrivals for 2026.
Although June is typically a low season for inbound tourism, Vietnam still received nearly 1.7 million international visitors during the month, maintaining double digit growth.
China ranked as Vietnam's largest source market with 2.7 million arrivals, followed by South Korea with 2.16 million. Together, the two markets accounted for almost 40 per cent of all international visitors.
Russia remained the fastest growing major market, with 742,700 arrivals, up 185.8 per cent year on year, making it Vietnam's third largest source of international visitors.
Other leading markets included Taiwan with more than 638,000 arrivals, the United States with nearly 530,000, Cambodia with more than 509,000, India with more than 491,000 and Japan with 442,000.
Southeast Asia continued to be a key growth driver. The Philippines recorded the strongest growth among regional markets, with arrivals rising 67.6 per cent, followed by Cambodia at 41.2 per cent, Singapore at 29.4 per cent, Indonesia at 26.5 per cent, Malaysia at 23.4 per cent and Thailand at 10.0 per cent.
Europe posted the highest regional growth rate at 56.1 per cent. Besides Russia, arrivals from Germany increased 16.1 per cent, France 13.8 per cent, the United Kingdom 10.7 per cent, Italy 10.5 per cent, Denmark 18.6 per cent, Sweden 23.8 per cent, Switzerland 25.7 per cent, the Czech Republic 30.1 per cent and Poland 52.1 per cent.
Vietnamese tourism officials attributed the strong performance to the country's reputation as a safe and stable destination offering rich cultural attractions, competitive prices and improving service quality despite continued global economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.
The sector is expected to gain further momentum in the second half of the year as the peak travel season from Northeast Asia, Europe and North America begins in the third and fourth quarters.
