Vietnam is forecast to witness a 80% drop in the number of foreign tourists visiting the country in 2020 if the COVID-19 pandemic is not controlled by the end of the year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

Foreign visitors in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

The administration said following a 33% growth in January, the number of foreign arrivals fell sharply, by 22% in February and 68% in March.  

The number of international visitors from April to June is unlikely to improve, but it could pick up towards the end of the year, all be it with much lower figures than in 2019. 

According to Le Tuan Anh, director of VNAT’s tourism information centre, the Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition (MICE) tourism is likely to recover first due to the urgent need for commercial transactions and business and production cooperation.

Vietnam is predicted to see an earlier recovery of arrivals from Asian markets rather than other continents, he said. 

If the pandemic is controlled in June, the number of international tourists to Vietnam in 2020 may decrease by nearly 70% compared to the previous year to only 5.5 million.

But if the pandemic lasts until the end of September or December, the number of foreign arrivals to the country may fall nearly 75% and 80% to about 4.6 and 3.7 million, respectively,  Anh noted.