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| Foreign tourists visit Ho Chi Minh City's Central Post Office. (Photo: VNA) |
Favourable visa policies, stronger tourism promotion programmes, and winning several prestigious international tourism awards have all contributed to drawing more foreign visitors to the country.
In October 2024, international arrivals to Vietnam reached 1.42 million, a slight increase compared to the figure of 1.3 million in September and a 27.6% increase compared to the same period last year.
The numbers are expected to grow, with the peak season for international tourists, especially ones from European countries, usually lasting from October to March.
Of the total 14.1 million figure, nearly 12 million arrived by air, accounting for 84.8% of the total, marking a 36.9% increase year-on-year. Almost 2 million arrived in Vietnam by road, up 13.9% and a 65.7% increase, respectively.
Composition-wise, Asian markets contributed nearly 80% of the total arrivals. Four markets – the Republic of Korea, China, Taiwan (China) and Japan -accounted for nearly 60 %.
In the first 10 months of 2024, the RoK was Vietnam's largest source of tourists, with 3.7 million visitors (26.4%). China is in second place with 3.0 million visitors (21.3%). Following these are visitors from Taiwan (China), the US, Japan, Australia, India, Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand.
While most destinations recorded growth compared to 2023 - China (up 130.4%), the RoK (up 28.5%), Japan (up 24.8%), Taiwan (up 59.4%), India (up 29.1%), Australia (up 23.7%), while visitors from Thailand declined by 13.3 %.
European markets also saw positive growth, including key markets like the UK (up 20.4 %), France (up 30.5 %) and Germany (up 23.6 %). While Italy (up 54.5 %), Spain (up 23.3 %), Russia (up 81.5 %), Denmark (up 21.7 %), Norway (up 16.2 %), and Sweden (up 24.9 %).
These markets benefit from a unilateral visa exemption policy for stays of up to 45 days, implemented from August 15, 2023.
Overall, tourism revenues in the first ten months hit 690 trillion VND (27.18 billion USD).
Agro-forestry-fishery trade surplus surges over 71% in 9 months
The trade surplus of the agro-forestry-fishery sector in the first nine months of this year hit 13.86 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of 71.2%, reported Vietnam News Agency.
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| A farmer stands by a coffee tree. (Photo: VNA) |
According to the report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the total agro-forestry-fishery export turnover in January-September reached 46.28 billion USD, up 21% compared the same period last year. Of which, agricultural shipments fetched 24.85 billion USD, up 27.7% year-on-year; forestry products 12.46 billion USD, up 20.3%; fishery products 7.23 billion USD, up 9.5%; and livestock 376 million USD, up 3.8%.
The export turnover of key products in the industry was higher than the same period last year. For example, wood and wood products hit 11.66 billion USD, up 21.3%; coffee 4.37 billion USD, up 39.6% despite a 10.5% decrease in volume; rice 4.37 billion USD, up 23.5%; cashew nuts 3.17 billion USD, up 22.5%; fruits and vegetables 5.87 billion USD, up 39.4%; shrimp 2.79 billion USD, up 10.5%; tra fish 1.36 billion USD, up 7.8%; and pepper 1 billion USD, up 46.9%.
The average export price of some key products peaked, with coffee up 56%, reaching 3,897 USD per tonne; followed by pepper at 4,941 USD per tonne, an increase of 49.2%; rubber at 19%; and rice at 13.1%.
In the first nine months, exports to Asia went up 17.4% year-on-year, America up 26.1%, Europe up 34.6%, and Oceania up 16.1%; while a decrease of 0.3% was seen in shipments to Africa. The US, China, and Japan continued to be the three largest export markets, with the US accounting for the highest proportion at 21.6%, followed by China 20.8% and Japan 6.6%.
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| Workers process shrimp for export. (Photo: VNA) |
Meanwhile, the import turnover of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products in the first nine months reached 32.42 billion USD, up 7.5% year-on-year. Of which, agricultural product imports hit 19.95 billion USD, up 7.6%; livestock products 2.8 billion USD, up 9.2%; fishery products 1.89 billion USD, down 2.5%; forestry products 2.09 billion USD, up 25.7%; production inputs 5.67 billion USD, up 4.6%; and salt 26 million USD, down 21.8%.
The imports from Asia were valued at 9.4 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 10.2%; from America 7.99 billion USD, up 13.9%; from Oceania, 1.3 billion USD, down 39.4%; from Europe, 1.5 billion USD, up 22.4%; and from Africa, 1.3 billion USD, down 12.2%. In September alone, the agro-forestry-fisheries export turnover hit 5.85 billion USD, a 31% increase from a year ago.
Specifically, the export of key agricultural products earned 3.41 billion USD, up 50.9%; forestry products 1.33 billion USD, up 11%; aquatic products 920 million USD, up 13.4%; and livestock 46.1 million USD, up 19.1%.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue to address market issues to facilitate the export of agricultural and fishery products. It will implement programmes to boost exports to markets such as China, the US, Japan, and the EU, while entering new markets with significant potential, including Muslim countries, the Middle East, and Africa.
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| Durian is a commodity with large export growth in 2024. (Photo: VNA) |
In the final months of the year, the ministry will further leverage free trade agreements (FTAs), especially the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA). These will be exploited to enhance the export of key agricultural, forestry, and fishery products. It will support businesses in securing new export contracts and collaborate to protect trademarks and origin certifications for Vietnam’s potential export products abroad.
Foreign investment disbursement hits 19.58 bln USD in 10 months
Disbursement of foreign investment reached about 19.58 billion USD in the first 10 months of this year, up nine% year-on-year, reported Vietnam News Agencya according to report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).
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| Workers of Samsung Electronics Vietnam Co., Ltd., at the Yen Phong Industrial Park in Bac Ninh province during their work shift. (Photo: VNA) |
According to the report, foreign investment inflows into Vietnam in the period also saw a modest increase of 2% to approximately 27.26 billion USD.
Up to 2,743 new foreign-invested projects were licensed during the period, with a total registered capital of over 12.23 billion USD, up 1.5% in the number of projects, but down 3% in capital.
The FIA attributed the slight decline in capital to the fact that new investment projects were small in scale, with a few of them having capital from over 100 million USD to over 300 million USD. Meanwhile, in October of 2023 alone, there were three large-scale projects worth between 500 million USD and 1.5 billion USD.
At the same time, 1,151 operating projects were allowed to raise their levels of capital by nearly 8.35 billion USD, up 6% and 42%, respectively.
However, foreign investors' capital contributions and share purchases recorded a yearly decline of 30% to 3.68 billion USD, the report said.
From January to October, the manufacturing and processing sector attracted the lion's share of foreign investment with 17.1 billion USD, down 14% year-on-year, which is equivalent to 62.6% of the total.
Real estate came next with nearly 5.23 billion USD, nearly three times higher than last year's corresponding period or capturing 19.2% of the total. Electricity production and distribution ranked third with 1.12 billion USD, followed by wholesale and retail with nearly 1 billion USD.
Among 106 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, Singapore took the lead with over 7.79 billion USD, up 61% year-on-year and making up 28.6% of the total foreign investment pledged in the country.
Mainland China followed with over 3.61 billion USD, up 5.4% and accounting for 13.3% of the total. Other major foreign investors were mainland the Republic of Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. But China ranked first in terms of the number of projects over the 10-month period, accounting for 28.8% of the total.
The FIA said that foreign investment was still focused on ten provinces and cities, those with advantages in attracting foreign investment including good infrastructure, stable human resources, efforts to reform administrative procedures and effective investment promotion.
The ten were Bac Ninh, HCM City, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Hanoi, Dong Nai, Bac Giang and Ninh Thuan, accounting for 80% of the country's total number of foreign-invested projects and 71% of registered capital.
Of them, Bac Ninh was the largest recipient with 4.7 billion USD or 17.2% of the total investment registered in the country in the period.
HCM City and Quang Ninh were the runners-up with 2.1 billion USD or 7.7% and 1.98 billion USD or 7.2%, respectively.
According to the agency, the ten-month export turnover of the foreign-funded sector, including crude oil, was estimated at over 242 billion USD, up 13 year-on-year, accounting for 72.1% of Vietnam’s total export revenue.
The sector recorded a trade surplus of nearly 42 billion USD, including crude oil, and over 40.8 billion USD without crude oil. This surplus helped offset the domestic sector's trade deficit of nearly 19.4 billion USD./.