Recently, many international air routes to Khanh Hoa have been reopened. The resumption of international air routes aims to the recovering of the tourism in 2023.

Good signals from new air routes

Before the Covid-19 epidemic, Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa had attracted a lot of international tourists to resort. In 2019, Khanh Hoa welcomed more than 7 million tourists, including more than 3.5 million international visitors. The Covid-19 epidemic influenced on tourism. Currently, domestic tourism is recovering well, the number of domestic tourists is increasing. To international tourism market, the local tourism has coordinated with the aviation to find ways to restore and open international routes towards a strong recovery in 2023. As a result, airlines have opened direct flights from Korea, Singapore and Uzbekistan to Khanh Hoa.

On July 8, AirAsia reopened Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Nha Trang route after more than 2 years of suspension due to the Covid-19 epidemic with a frequency of 2 flights/week on Mondays and Fridays. The first flight from Malaysia to Khanh Hoa with 140 passengers landed at Cam Ranh International Airport at 11:30 a.m on July 8. Many Malaysian tourists are excited to be back to enjoy the beauty of the island tourism of Khanh Hoa.

According to Pham Minh Nhut - Vice Chairman of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association, the restoration of routes by airlines from Malaysia, Singapore to Khanh Hoa is considered as the key for Khanh Hoa’s tourism to attract tourists from the Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia with more than 663 million people and close distance is a potential market for tourism of Vietnam in general and Khanh Hoa in particular. With beautiful natural scenery and diverse cuisine, Khanh Hoa tourism will attract tourists from other countries in the region when there are direct flights. Besides, connecting with flight points from Malaysia, Singapore, and soon Thailand may help Khanh Hoa attract more international visitors beyond Southeast Asia.

Korean tourist market recovering well

Currently, the Korean tourist market is recovering well. Le Thi Hong Minh - Director of Cam Ranh International Terminal Joint Stock Company said that up to now, there are 4 airlines, namely Vietjet Air, Air Seoul, Jeju Air and Air Busan, operating routes from Incheon to Cam Ranh with a frequency of 15 flights/week. It is expected that in early September 2022, Vietnam Airlines and T’way Air (Korea) will also fly on Incheon - Cam Ranh route with about 12 flights per week. In the near future, Air Busan and Vietjet Air will also re-operate the Busan - Cam Ranh route.

Besides Korea, Southeast Asia is also very potential. In addition to flights from Singapore and Malaysia, Thai AirAsia is expected to operate the Don Muang (Thailand) - Cam Ranh route from August 2022 with a frequency of 2 flights/week on Mondays and Fridays.

The resumption of international routes has added confidence to the local tourism industry. At the meeting of the provincial Tourism Development Steering Committee on the results of the implementation of the provincial tourism action program in the first 6 months of the year, Nguyen Thi Le Thanh - Director of the Department of Tourism said that the tourism industry of the province has set a target to welcome about 60,000 more international visitors in the last 6 months of 2022 and this is a premise to promote the recovery of international tourism in 2023. Besides Korean and ASEAN countries, the tourism industry will promote Indian market. As planned, in August, the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City will invite about 50 businesses who are representatives of travel and airline companies to survey Khanh Hoa tourism products and attend the conference promoting Indian tourism in the South Central provinces. With the population of more than 1 billion, the Indian market has a lot of potentials. However, this is a new market and there are no direct flights, so the number of Indian tourists is very small. The tourism industry of the province is stepping up promotion activities and strengthening connections to attract Indian tourists.

In the first 6 months of 2022, the whole province welcomed more than 1,046,000 tourists, an increase of 128.6% over the same period last year, reaching 87.2% of the 2022 plan. In which, the number of international visitors were 42,507, up 122.5% over the same period. Tourism revenue of the six months is estimated at VND 5,549.7 billion, up 209.4 percent over the same period. The tourism industry aims to welcome 1.2 million tourists in the last 6 months of the year, including 100,000 international ones, and VND 6,400 billion in tourism revenue.

Vietnam has enjoyed multiple wins at the prestigious World Travel Awards in 2021. These include:
Asia’s Leading Destination 2021
Asia’s Leading Sustainable Tourism Destination 2021
Asia’s Leading Tourist Board 2021
Asia’s Leading Cultural City Destination 2021 (Hoi An)
World’s Best Golf Destination 2021 (World Golf Awards)
Asia’s Best Golf Destination 2021 (World Golf Awards)
Asia’s Best River Cruise Destination 2021 (World Cruise Awards)

Vietnam is also nominated in a host of categories in 2022. These include:
Asia’s Leading Beach Destination 2022
Asia’s Leading Cultural Destination 2022
Asia’s Leading Destination 2022
Asia’s Leading Nature Destination 2022
Asia’s Leading Tourist Board 2022
Asia’s Leading Youth Travel Destination 2022
Asia’s Leading Sustainable Tourism Destination 2022
Asia’s Leading Festival & Event Destination 2022 (Da Nang City)
Asia’s Leading Cultural City Destination 2022 (Hoi An)
Asia’s Leading Cultural City Destination 2022 (Hue City)
Asia’s Best Cruise Destination 2022 (World Cruise Awards)
Asia’s Best River Cruise Destination 2022 (World Cruise Awards)
Asia’s Best Culinary Destination (World Culinary Awards)
Asia’s Best Golf Destination 2022 (World Golf Awards)
World’s Best Wellness Destination 2022 (World Spa Awards)
Asia’s Best Spa Destination 2022 (World Spa Awards)