Vietnam. Tourists from Russia return after three years break

The first group of 231 Russians was greeted by a water salute and traditional lion dance at the CAM Ranh airport. Visitors with Russia before Pandemia Covid-19 They constituted the second largest group of tourists in the region – in 2019 460 thousand arrived. “Pandemic and geopolitical issues meant that this number dropped to 14 thousand in 2022 and to 51.2 thousand in 2023. In 2024, the number of arrivals increased to 105,513” – writes Vnexpress. The Tuoi Tre News portal, in turn, reports that the suspension of direct flights from Russia was related to Western sanctions. As a result, the Russians traveled to Vietnam with transfers in countries like Kazakhstan and China – the portal pointed out.

See also: This country has recorded a record number of tourists. I want to attract even more

The Anex Vietnam travel agency wants to operate from April from 50 to 100 flights a month between 11 Russian cities and Cam Ranh. The authorities in Hanoi in the return of Russian tourists see the chance to revive the Vietnamese economy. The Vietnam Ambassador in Russia Dang Minh Khoi announced last week that Vietnam Airlines will also resume flights to Moscow from May. – All this will create favorable conditions for the development of tourism. We hope that by the end of the year the number of tourists will reach 500,000, but our goal is to accept a million people – he noted.

Vietnam, which officially runs the so -called bamboo diplomacy, maintaining a “neutral foreign policy”, did not condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin Last year, he praised the communist Vietnam government for supporting the “pragmatic way of solving the crisis” in Ukraine. The Russian dictator, cited in the ruling organ of the Vietnamese communist party, also said that “Russia and Vietnam are similar to situations in the region of Asia and the Pacific“.

See also: Trump and Putin are already talking. White House: They started at 10 am