Tourism

Offering 3200 km of coastline and spectacular white sand beaches, mountainous highlands popular with adventure tourists and a vast array of cultural, historic and culinary attractions, Vietnam has seen its tourism sector become a major economic growth driver in recent years. The sector has recorded positive performances across the board, including international arrivals, domestic tourists, revenues, spending and investment, leading the government to increase earlier growth targets in 2016 as foreign arrivals reached record levels. Although a restrictive visa scheme continues to prevent Vietnam from reaching the same visitor numbers as its fellow ASEAN tourism competitors, government moves to add a growing number of countries to the visa waiver list could see the country catch up with – and even surpass – markets such as Thailand and Malaysia in the coming years.