China announced the resumption of tours for groups of travelers to 20 countries commencing from February 6. But Vietnam was not on the list.

In the document to China's counterpart agency, MCST emphasized that cooperation in the tourism sector between Vietnam and China is a ‘bright spot’ in the two countries’ bilateral cooperation.

Most recently, during an official visit to China by Vietnamese Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong in October 2022, MCST and the Chinese agency signed a plan on cultural and tourism cooperation for 2023-2027.

Vietnam is among the top 5 countries which sends travelers to China, and China is the largest inbound tourism market for Vietnam. 

As many as 5.8 million Chinese traveled to Vietnam in 2019, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), which accounted for 30 percent of foreign travelers to Vietnam.

Vietnam officially reopened its tourism market on March 15, 2022. Last year, Vietnam received 3.66 million foreign travelers, but there were only 71,862 Chinese because China was then pursuing a strict pandemic prevention policy.

Recently, on January 8, China lowered the pandemic prevention level and reopened its borders to international tourists. On January 9, VNAT joined forces with the Vietnam Tourism Association and Quang Ninh province to organize a workshop on solutions to attract Chinese travelers through Mong Cai City, attracting more than 200 travel firms specializing in serving Chinese tourists.

The workshop reviewed the situation, surveyed the market to design tourism products, and discussed solutions to improve service quality.

According to Du Lich (Tourism) Journal, in the 2023 New Lunar Year greeting letter to tourism management agencies in seven localities in China (including five localities that signed an MoU with VNAT and two provinces bordering Vietnam), VNAT General Director Nguyen Trung Khanh proposed that the two sides encourage Vietnamese and Chinese citizens to travel to each other’s countries.

VNAT discussed with the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam to learn about China’s viewpoints and policies; and suggested that MCST asks China to add Vietnam into the list of its outbound tour markets.

VNAT’s officials also worked with Chinese representatives on the sideline of the 2023 ASEAN Tourism Forum in Indonesia February 3.

Ngoc Ha