• 60% of Vietnamese anticipate restriction-free domestic travel within six months, while only 40% expect international travel to be unfettered 
• Only 27% expected in-bound tourism to resume within the same period 
• Almost half of Vietnamese (48%) don’t expect in-bound travel to resume for at least 12 months or until 80% of Vietnamese are vaccinated 
• Health and safety protocols, being vaccinated against COVID-19 and flexible cancellation policies are the top points to give confidence for future travel  

Vietnamese are optimistic for tourism to take off again according to Agoda’s Return to Travel/Welcome Back to Travel survey released today with 60% of the public anticipating restriction-free domestic travel within the next six months. Meanwhile, 2 in 5 are expecting restriction-free travel within Asia, and 38% of respondents anticipate all international destinations to be restriction-free within six months.    

• Females marginally more inclined to anticipate restriction-free domestic travel (63% vs 56% male) 
• 35-44 year olds are least optimistic for restriction-free travel  (52%)  
• For Asia travel – 40% expect to travel without restrictions within six months, with 45-54 more likely to expect this (52%) versus 38% of 25-34 year olds 
• International travel with restrictions is expected by 62% with those 55+ least likely to expect travel restrictions will still be in place in six months 

In-bound travel slower anticipated return 

Du lịch in-bound sẽ trở lại chậm hơn  

Almost half of respondents don’t expect in-bound travel to return for at least 12 months or until 80% of Vietnamese are vaccinated.  Only 8% believe it will resume within the next three months. While country wide most people expect in-bound to only resume 7-11 months from now (21%) those from Danang are most optimistic that in-bound travel will pick up within 4-6 months, while people over 55+ are most likely to believe in-bound travel is 12+ months away. 

Health measures and vaccines needed for travel confidence to resume 

While Covid has delayed travel plans for Vietnamese public, 63% of respondents expect travel providers to adhere to strict Covid protocols during their future trips.  Meanwhile, 57% state they will expect travelers – including themselves – to have had at least one vaccine dose before they confidently hit the hotels, board the bus or soar the skies once again.  Over a third specify that travel providers must provide flexible options for cancelation and booking changes, 30% say they would prefer contactless interaction with their travel providers, and a quarter have indicating that they plan on staying closer to home with future travel, perhaps preference for staycations or drive-able destinations.  

“Like many countries in this region, Vietnam relies heavily on tourism, so it’s great to see that with some safety protocols and measures in place, and ways to identify them like Hygiene Plus, the public is optimistic that travel will rebound, in quarters rather than years.    

We are helping our partners with tech solutions to ensure that we can make it as hassle-free as possible to connect travelers with them, whenever it’s safe to travel again.” said Errol Cooke, Vice President of Partner Services. 

About the data

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Singapore Pte Ltd.  Total sample size was 1103 adults.  Fieldwork was undertaken between 15th –19th July 2021.  The survey was carried out online.  The figures have been weighted and are representative of all Vietnamese adults (aged 18+) online. 

YouGov is a global provider of analysis and data generated by research in 43 markets from an online panel of over 7 million.  As market research pioneers YouGov’s data consistently outperforms others on accuracy, as concluded by Pew Research.   

This post is also available in: Tiếng Việt