- Vietnam’s tourism authorities have launched a full-scale campaign to attract Russian tourists, pulling out all the stops, including a balalaika orchestra.
- By mid-2025, 260,000 Russian tourists had already visited, matching 2024’s full-year total of 232,300 arrivals.
- Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam hosted over 650,000 Russians, who came for the beaches and stayed for the discounted beer.
- Pandemic years saw numbers plummet, only for Russian arrivals to rebound with the desperation of a traveler denied Wi-Fi for a week.
- Khanh Hoa Province, home to sunbathers and enduring hotel staff, saw a 192% surge in Russian arrivals year-over-year.
- Russian tourists have a reputation for prolonging their beach vacations well past the sell-by date, averaging 12 days in Nha Trang.
- Direct air links from Russia and Kazakhstan now serve the Cam Ranh International Airport, with flights multiplying like the rainy season mosquitoes.
- Top draws include seafood, tropical fruits, Vietnamese coffee, and the irresistible urge to buy every handicraft made from coconut.
- Visa exemptions for Russian citizens (up to 45 days) appear to be working their magic, at least for those with a dislike for paperwork.
- Ambitious plans include targeting 430,000 Russian visitors in 2025, because setting attainable goals would be too easy.
- Official optimism is running as high as the humidity, as authorities cheer a growth rate of 139% for the Russian market this year.
- Infrastructure and service upgrades are supposedly on the way, although travelers might prefer a functioning restroom over futuristic water features.
- Anticipated direct routes to cities like Kazan and Ufa, with hopes that more travelers will mistake Vietnam for the tropics rather than another Soviet resort.
Vietnam’s Campaign for Russian Tourists
The Vietnamese tourism establishment has found its latest muse: Russian tourists with money to spend, a taste for sun, and no memory of how many times they’ve been courted before. After the bleak pandemic-era lull, officials are trumpeting numbers as if resurrecting Lazarus. By June 2025, Vietnam had already surpassed its total from the previous year, with 260,000 Russian holidaymakers, vaulting Russia into Vietnam’s top 10 source markets. This is a comeback story, but think less Rocky Balboa and more endlessly sunburned beachgoer refusing to leave the pool bar.
The industry has responded with earnest promotional campaigns, new flight connections, and a fresh layer of optimism as thick as the humidity in Nha Trang. The Cam Ranh International Airport now handles flights from former Soviet Union countries at twice the rate seen only a month before. Russian passengers dominate the arrivals lounge, wandering Khanh Hoa’s sandy thoroughfares and driving up visitor numbers by nearly 192% compared to last year’s anemic figures.
Visa perks, now allowing up to 45 glorious, paperwork-free days, seem to be paying off—or at least distracting travelers from the minor inconvenience of construction everywhere. On the other hand, Vietnamese tourists are currently eligible for a 16-day e-visa, with a possible extension to 30 days, which is currently being processed.
Officials are quick to credit the return of direct flights as a miracle cure. Cung Quynh Anh, Deputy Director of Khanh Hoa’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, declared, “The resumption of direct flights from Russia to Cam Ranh gave a major boost to arrivals from Russia and Kazakhstan.” As if on cue, business leaders chimed in, with Phan Dang Anh of Anex Vietnam Travel and Trading Co. Ltd. stating, “Vietnam was one of the few Asian countries to quickly resume charter flights from Russia.” Put another way, the country is keeping its doors open while others are still looking for the keys.
The Russian Tourist Playbook
Russian tourists are famous for stretching their Vietnamese getaways far past the median, with many clocking an average of 12 leisurely days in Nha Trang, according to Hoang Thi Phong Thu from Pegas Misr Vietnam Travel Co. Ltd. They splurge on seafood, exotic fruits, strong iced coffee, and accessories made from coconut shells, as well as locally tailored fashions and handicrafts.
Cam Ranh’s April 2025 air traffic statistics read less like an airport report and more like a warning: 144 flights from former Soviet states, doubling the chaos of March. Russian visitors accounted for most of those arrivals, squeezing into beachfront hotels while staff rehearsed their best “no vacancy” routines.
Enthusiasm is reaching fever pitch at the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, where the Russian market has become the only one to record a growth rate of over 139% in the first half of 2025. These numbers, presumably, are what happens when you combine a warm climate, vanishing competitors, and a visa policy no one can quite believe.
Not to be outdone, Vietnamese firms are haphazardly planning wellness and culinary offerings, each promising to “tailor” their products to Russian tastes, as though a wellness spa and a bowl of pho will erase the memory of a 12-hour flight.
There are grand visions of expanded flight networks to Kazan and Ufa for 2025–2026, all of which, one assumes, depend on someone somewhere reading a map.
Marketing events are ongoing in Russian cities, with Vietnam set to host Russian Culture Days at a scale rivaled only by a neighborhood block party, albeit with airline sponsors and officials in suits sweating through their speeches.
Numbers, Targets, and the Relentless March of Expectations
Vietnam has penciled in 430,000 Russian arrivals for 2025, almost twice the volume achieved in 2024, proving that modesty was left behind in the last economic downturn. This aligns neatly with the broader goal of attracting 22 to 23 million international visitors, as if each new arrival might personally contribute to the industry’s financial stability.
It’s all hands on deck: streamlined group visa options, direct flights to oddball destinations, more information sharing than a family WhatsApp group, and stern reminders that infrastructure upgrades must keep pace—even if that means repainting the airport bathrooms.
Vietnam’s campaign shows that in tourism, everyone loves a comeback—unless you’re the one cleaning the hotel pool or running out of seafood.
All the Not-So-Fine Print, Neatly Organized for Those Keeping Score:
- Russian tourists are among the top 10 foreign markets, driven by flight deals and a strong aversion to the winter season.
- 2019: Over 650,000 Russian arrivals, making Russia Vietnam’s sixth-largest market pre-pandemic
- 2024: Russian visitors at 232,300, a figure already trounced by mid-2025
- April 2025: 144 flights from former Soviet Union countries to Cam Ranh, double March
Yes, Vietnam is aiming for the kind of “growth” that makes economists drool and local restaurant owners brace for impact. The rest will depend on whether tourists find the new direct pathways more appealing than a week in Sochi—and if the next batch of “improved services” includes cold beer and working air conditioning. Because, as it turns out, global ambition looks a lot like a sunburn and a shopping bag of coconut trinkets.
