International arrivals to Vietnam in April plummeted 98.2% year-on-year to hit a record low of around 26,200 as Vietnam restricts foreign guests to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Foreign visitors in Hanoi. Photo: Dantri newspaper

Vietnam welcomed 3.7 million international visitors in the first four months of 2020, a drop of 37.8% over the same period last year due to the suspension of entry of all foreigners from March 18, according to the latest report from the General Statistics Office.

Dramatic slumps were seen in major source markets such as China, South Korea, Japan, Russia, France, Australia, and the US.

In the first four months this year, Asian visitors still accounted for the majority of total tourist inflows, with nearly 2.7 million, down 40.3% over the same period last year. Of the amount, arrivals from China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan (China), Thailand and Malaysia, among others, sharply decreased by 47.7%, 43.3%, 33.6%, 32.4%, 27.9% and 43.4%, respectively.

Source: General Statistics Office. Chart: Nhat Minh

Arrivals by air dropped 35.9% year-on-year to around 3 million, accounting for nearly 80.7%, while 570,700 came by road, down 51.4%, and those came by sea jumped 20.7%.Visitors from Europe totaled 665,300, down 25.4%. Those from the Americas totaled nearly 234,200, down 37.6%, mostly from the US (with 172,700, down 38.5%). Nearly 102,300 arrivals were from Oceania, down 37.5% while visitors from Africa were nearly 12,000, down 25%.