Viet Nam becomes top destination for Indian travelers

A report from Mastercard's Economics Institute, titled Travel Trends 2024: Breaking Boundaries, said Indian outbound travel to Viet Nam skyrocketed by 248 percent compared to 2019 levels, followed by the U.S. and Japan, with growth rates of 59 percent and 53 percent, respectively.

Viet Nam, which recently added direct flights, has seen a two and a half times increase in travel. This reinforces the strength of demand for intra-regional travel as well, said David Mann, chief economist, Asia Pacific, Mastercard.

Viet Nam was the most searched tourist destination on Google this year by Indians, followed by Goa and Bali, according to the "Year in Search 2023" report.

Searches for Viet Nam were highest in February and April, Google said.

In 2023, India was one of the 10 largest markets for Vietnamese inbound tourism with 352,000 arrivals, up 1.8 times against pre-pandemic times.

Vietnamese carriers raced to open new direct routes connecting Viet Nam's major tourist destinations to Indian cities to tap into the world's most populous market.

During January-April, Viet Nam accommodated more than 6.2 million international visitors, up 68.3 percent year on year and 3.9 percent compared to the same period in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced.

The Southeast Asian country welcomed 158,000 Indian travelers in the first four months, surging over 41 percent year on year./.