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Jul 23, 2017 / 12:00

Vietnam became China's top 10 travel destinations

Vietnam to become more popular attractions than France with Chinese travelers.

Vietnam tourism.
Vietnam tourism.
Figures from CLSA, a Hong Kong brokerage and investment firm formally known as Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia, showed Vietnam has overtaken France to enter the top 10, which is led by Hong Kong, Thailand and South Korea.
The survey polled more than 400 Chinese travelers across 25 cities with an average age of 35 and a monthly income of 20,000 yuan (US$2,900).
Last May, a MarketWatch report, citing data from American Express, also showed that summer bookings to Europe’s top destinations, notably France and Turkey, had been hurt by the attacks.
China has always been Vietnam's main source of tourists, and their numbers increased by 57% on-year in the first six months of 2017, reaching nearly 1.9 million and accounting for 30% of all foreign arrivals.
Last year, Vietnam welcomed around 2.7 million Chinese tourists, a jump of 51% from the year before. Vietnamese media said Chinese visitors have been encouraged by a new policy that allows groups of travelers to visit the border province of Quang Ninh, home to the popular Ha Long Bay, for up to three days without a visa.
According to a report by CLSA, Chinese tourists are expected to make 200 million outbound trips in 2020, a 48 per cent increase from last year’s 135 million, led by Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea and Japan as the most-visited destinations, and Vietnam is also set to become even more popular.
A Bloomberg report last December said Chinese tourists could have a big impact on Vietnam’s economy. It said a 30% increase in spending by Chinese tourists would boost Vietnam’s economic growth by nearly 1 percentage point. For Thailand, that would be around 1.6 points.
Safety remains a serious consideration for mainland travelers, with 70 per cent of respondents citing safety as their prime consideration, followed by cost and sightseeing opportunities.
That’s helped Vietnam overtake France last year as the 10th-most visited destination for the Chinese. A policy by the Chinese government, which allowed foreign tourists to use the country’s third-largest land port on the border with Vietnam to enter Southeast Asia, has also increased tourism, with 4.66 million crossing the China-Vietnam border in the first half, up nearly 42 per cent from last year, Xinhua News Agency said separately.