An English guide to the Vietnamese outbound travel market
Market · Data
Vietnam outbound travel: the numbers and their limits
The National Statistics Office counted about 6.7 million trips abroad by Vietnamese residents in 2025. This page puts the official figures in one table, adds what surveys say about who travels and how, and explains the traps in comparing Vietnamese figures with the arrivals that destination countries publish.
The official figures in one table
| Period | Trips abroad by Vietnamese residents | Change on a year earlier | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full year 2025 | about 6.7 million | +26.4% | National Statistics Office, via Viet Nam News |
| January–June 2025 | nearly 4.1 million | +53.9% | National Statistics Office, via VOV |
| October–December 2025 | about 1.3 million | not stated | National Statistics Office, via Viet Nam News |
Two arithmetic notes, ours rather than the statistics office's. If 6.7 million is 26.4% more than 2024, the 2024 total was roughly 5.3 million. And if the first half carried about 4.1 million trips and the fourth quarter about 1.3 million, the third quarter carried roughly 1.3 million too. Rounding in the published figures means these are approximations, not data.
Sources: Viet Nam News — 2025 tourism results, National Statistics Office data incl. Vietnamese trips abroad; VOV — Vietnamese outbound travel in the first half of 2025 (NSO, JNTO and destination data) · last checked .
A market that grew faster than it was counted
The 2025 growth rate is high, and the first-half rate higher still. Travel agencies in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City told VOV in mid-2025 that more flexible visa policies, stable tour and air prices, and young travellers who want to "check in" abroad were all pushing demand up.
For planning, the useful conclusion is modest. The market is several million trips a year, it has been growing, and it is concentrated in a few periods. Anyone building a business case on a growth rate should use the full-year figure, not the first-half one, and should recheck it each January when the statistics office publishes the next year.
Sources: Viet Nam News — 2025 tourism results, National Statistics Office data incl. Vietnamese trips abroad; VOV — Vietnamese outbound travel in the first half of 2025 (NSO, JNTO and destination data) · last checked .
Outbound against inbound, for scale
The same statistics office reported nearly 21.17 million international arrivals into Vietnam in 2025. Outbound travel by Vietnamese residents was therefore roughly a third the size of inbound travel. The two flows share airports and airlines, and when a new direct route opens it carries both. Inbound promotion is not the subject of this guide; the comparison is here because foreign partners sometimes assume the two flows are the same size.
Sources: Viet Nam News — 2025 tourism results, National Statistics Office data incl. Vietnamese trips abroad · last checked .
Who travels, and how
There is no official profile of Vietnamese outbound travellers. Two sources give partial pictures.
The first is the population itself. DataReportal puts Vietnam's population at about 102 million in October 2025, with a median age of 33.4 and 41.1% living in urban areas.
The second is a survey of travel plans for the 2025 lunar new year by The Outbox Company, a commercial research firm. It found that Tet trips are mostly taken with family or a spouse, that 44% of outbound travellers preferred all-inclusive tours, that international trips averaged five to six nights, and that the average international trip cost nearly VND 37 million. Spending on Tet travel was reported 58% higher than a year earlier. These are survey answers from one holiday, not market statistics, and should be read as such.
Sources: DataReportal — Digital 2026: Vietnam (data mostly October 2025); Vietnam Economic News — The Outbox Company survey on Tet 2025 travel (commercial research) · last checked .
Package tours and independent travel
Two signals point in different directions, and both are probably true. The Tet survey found that 44% of outbound travellers preferred all-inclusive tours. At the same time, VOV reported that in Japan customised and self-guided tours were gradually gaining on traditional package tours among Vietnamese visitors, who were also travelling beyond Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.
The practical reading is that the Vietnamese travel trade remains a large route to market for any destination that needs a visa, a long flight or careful planning, while closer and simpler destinations see more independent booking. A tourism board usually needs to work both channels: tour operators for the packaged trips, and consumer media for the travellers who plan alone.
Sources: Vietnam Economic News — The Outbox Company survey on Tet 2025 travel (commercial research); VOV — Vietnamese outbound travel in the first half of 2025 (NSO, JNTO and destination data) · last checked .
Reading Vietnamese and destination statistics together
- Trips are not people. The statistics office counts outbound trips. A business traveller who flies to Singapore six times appears six times.
- Departures are not arrivals. A Vietnamese traveller on a two-country itinerary leaves Vietnam once but is counted as an arrival in both destinations.
- Nationality and residence differ. Destination countries usually count by passport nationality; the Vietnamese figure is about residents travelling abroad. Check each publisher's definition.
- Periods rarely match. The destination figures available for 2025 cover four, five or six months, not the year. Do not add them up or compare them directly.
- Survey figures are not counts. A survey percentage describes the people who answered it, often an online panel in the large cities.
The safest presentation in a board paper or a funding bid is the one used on this page: each figure with its period, its publisher and the date you checked it.
Using the numbers in a plan
- 01
Size the market
Start from the full-year official figure and its growth, not a partial-year rate.
- 02
Find your share
Ask your own statistics office or border agency for Vietnamese arrivals, by month, for the last three years. Compare the seasonality with Vietnam's holiday calendar.
- 03
Pick the channel
If your destination needs a visa or careful planning, budget for trade work with Vietnamese tour operators as well as consumer media.
- 04
Date everything
Put the period, publisher and check date next to every figure you quote, and set a reminder for January, when the next full-year figure appears.
What this page does not cover
Spending per trip by destination, the share of trips that are business travel, and the split between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City departures are not published in the sources we could check. We have not estimated them. If you hold a published source for any of them, the contact page explains how to send it.
Common questions
Questions readers ask
How many trips abroad did Vietnamese make in 2025?
About 6.7 million, up 26.4% on 2024, according to the National Statistics Office.
Do most Vietnamese travel abroad on package tours?
A 2025 Tet survey found 44% of outbound travellers preferred all-inclusive tours. Some destinations report a shift towards self-guided travel. Both routes matter.
Can I add up destination arrival figures to get the total?
No. Destination figures cover different periods and definitions, and multi-country trips are counted more than once.
How much does a Vietnamese traveller spend on a trip abroad?
One commercial survey of Tet 2025 put the average international trip at nearly VND 37 million. Treat it as a survey answer, not a market statistic.
Related
Read next
Section · Market
Outbound market
Size, growth, destinations and the holiday calendar of Vietnamese outbound travel, with sources.
Market · Destinations
Where they go
Reported Vietnamese arrivals in Thailand, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, and what visa, flights and culture explain.
Market · Calendar
Holiday calendar
Tet 2027, the April and September breaks, and how to time campaigns for Vietnamese travellers.
Access · Visas
Visas
Henley Passport Index lists for Vietnam, how visa rules shape demand, and practical help for applicants.
Rules · Localisation
Localisation
Language, payment methods, chat-based service and family travel patterns for Vietnamese guests.
Start planning
Write to the PR Viet editors
Report a figure or rule that has changed, ask about a page, or send an advertising enquiry. PR Viet does not sell PR or advertising services and does not pass your details to anyone.