HCMC – Since China allowed its citizens to travel to Vietnam in groups from March 15, the number of Chinese tourists to Vietnam has increased sharply, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

China ranked fourth among the top 10 source markets for Vietnamese tourism, with 252,100 Chinese visiting the country in the first four months of this year.

Vietnam received 112,000 Chinese tourists in April alone, up 61.5% over the figure in March, the highest growth rate among Vietnam’s source markets for tourism.

However, it is far below the pre-pandemic figure, as there were nearly 427,000 Chinese coming to Vietnam in April 2019. The first four months of 2019 saw over 1.7 million Chinese arrivals.

Chinese tourists mainly travel to Vietnam on tours through border gates and charter flights to Cam Ranh. Travel companies believe that more Chinese tourists will visit Vietnam if China allows free travel.

Vietnam welcomed nearly 3.7 million international visitors between January and April, with 2.7 million of them from Asian countries.

South Korea ranked first with over one million visitors, followed by the U.S. with 263,000 visitors.