Vietnam’s heritage tourism combines internationally recognized cultural places, living traditions, historic landscapes, and a large visitor economy. UNESCO lists 9 Vietnamese properties on the World Heritage List, while the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism reported more than 17.5 million international visitor arrivals in 2024. Central Vietnam is especially important: Hoi An, My Son Sanctuary, Hue, and Quang Nam provide some of the clearest local measures of heritage demand.
Contents
- Vietnam’s heritage portfolio
- International tourism scale in 2024
- Hoi An and My Son visitor statistics
- Hue and Central Vietnam heritage travel
- Quang Nam’s tourism economy
- National growth, capacity, and targets
Vietnam’s heritage portfolio
UNESCO’s Viet Nam country page records a broad heritage portfolio:
- 9 properties are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
- 17 cultural practices and expressions appear on UNESCO intangible-heritage lists.
- 4 documentary heritage items are included on the Memory of the World International Register.
- 7 biosphere reserves operate under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere programme.
- 4 international geoscience and geoparks are recognized under UNESCO’s International Geoscience and Geoparks Programme.
- Viet Nam has 1 UNESCO Chair and UNITWIN network.
- Viet Nam has been a UNESCO member since 1951.
The UNESCO World Heritage Convention page gives additional institutional context. Viet Nam accepted the convention on 19 October 1987. The page lists 9 inscribed properties, 2 mandates for Viet Nam on the World Heritage Committee, 48 State of Conservation Reports, and 31 approved international assistance requests. Total approved international assistance is shown as USD 877,708. These are UNESCO-recorded programme and governance measures, not visitor totals.
The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism reported that Viet Nam won “World’s Leading Heritage Destination 2024” on 24 November 2024. The authority described this as Viet Nam’s fifth win in the category, following wins in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Its 2024 award description cited 9 world natural and cultural heritage sites, 15 intangible cultural heritage properties, and 10 documentary heritages honored by UNESCO.
The award figures and UNESCO country-page figures use different labels and counting frames. UNESCO lists 17 cultural practices and expressions, while the award description cites 15 intangible cultural heritage properties. They should therefore be read as separate reported measures rather than combined into one total.
International tourism scale in 2024
The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism reported more than 17.5 million international visitor arrivals in 2024, up 39.5% from 2023. The 2023 baseline was 12.6 million international arrivals, and the authority reported that 2023 arrivals were 3.5 times the 2022 level.
Arrival transport in 2024 was concentrated in air travel:
| Arrival mode | 2024 visitors | Share of international arrivals |
|---|---|---|
| Air | 14.8 million | 84.4% |
| Road | 2.5 million | 14.2% |
| Sea | 248.1 thousand | 1.4% |
Asia supplied 79.6% of Viet Nam’s international visitors in 2024. Europe supplied 11.3%, the Americas 5.7%, Oceania 3.1%, and Africa 0.3%. South Korea was the largest source market, with 4.5 million arrivals and 26% of the year’s international total. China was second, with 3.7 million arrivals and 21.3%.
Other reported source-market totals were 780 thousand visitors from the United States, 711 thousand from Japan, 501 thousand from India, 495 thousand from Malaysia, 491 thousand from Australia, 475 thousand from Cambodia, and 418 thousand from Thailand. These market figures help explain why heritage destinations in Central Vietnam serve both nearby Asian markets and longer-haul visitors.
The 2024 figures also show the difference between a national arrival count and a destination’s heritage-site count. National arrivals include all travel purposes and places, whereas a ticketed old quarter, monument complex, or sanctuary measures activity at a particular attraction.
Hoi An and My Son visitor statistics
Hoi An is one of the strongest Central Vietnam examples in the reported data. The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism said Hoi An welcomed more than 4.4 million visitors in 2024 and also reported a total of more than 4.42 million. That represented about 95% of the city’s 2024 visitor plan. The Old Quarter received more than 1.72 million ticketed visitors, or about 86% of its 2024 ticketed-visitor plan.
Hoi An’s heritage inventory included 27 national-level relics and 50 provincial-level relics. Its 2024–2029 conservation programme listed 19 heritage sites for protection. The city is also home to 1 special national relic. The inventory figures describe protected heritage assets; they do not mean that every listed relic received the same number of visitors.
The 2023 comparison shows how quickly Hoi An’s visitor economy had recovered. Hoi An welcomed 4 million visitors in 2023, including about 3 million international visitors. Total tourist visits were 2 times the previous year’s level. Ticketed visitors exceeded 3.23 million, including more than 2.587 million international visitors.
My Son Sanctuary provides a more focused site-level picture. The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism reported nearly 446,000 visitors in 2024, with about 90% being international tourists. The sanctuary generated VND 71.5 billion in revenue in 2024. My Son has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.
| Central Vietnam heritage measure | Reported period | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Hoi An total visitors | 2024 | More than 4.42 million |
| Hoi An Old Quarter ticketed visitors | 2024 | More than 1.72 million |
| My Son Sanctuary visitors | 2024 | Nearly 446,000 |
| My Son international visitor share | 2024 | About 90% |
| Hoi An total visitors | 2023 | 4 million |
| Hoi An international visitors | 2023 | About 3 million |
These measures are not interchangeable. Hoi An’s total visitor figure covers the city, its Old Quarter ticketed figure covers a defined attraction, and My Son’s count covers the sanctuary. The distinction matters when comparing destination scale with individual heritage-site demand.
Hue and Central Vietnam heritage travel
The available Hue figures relate to the 9-day 2024 Lunar New Year holiday rather than a full calendar year. Thua Thien Hue received approximately 100,000 visitors to historical sites and tourist attractions during that holiday, about 17.64% more than in 2023. Accommodation occupancy was 62.4%, and accommodation revenue reached VND 115 billion.
The Hue Monuments Conservation Centre sites drew between 65,000 and 68,000 visitors during the first 3 days of Lunar New Year 2024. About 12,000 of those visitors were international. Because these figures cover only the first 3 days, they should not be compared directly with Hoi An’s full-year totals or treated as Hue’s annual visitor count.
National holiday travel also provides context for heritage demand. During Lunar New Year 2024, Viet Nam estimated 10.5 million domestic visitor trips, up 16.6% from 2023. About 3.5 million were overnight domestic visitors, up 75% from 2023. Average room capacity during the holiday was about 45% to 50%.
Quang Nam’s tourism economy
Quang Nam’s 2023 figures place Hoi An and My Son within a wider provincial visitor economy. The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism reported more than 7.5 million visitors to Quang Nam in 2023. Tourism revenue reached VND 7,950 billion, while tourism social income reached about VND 18,683 billion.
For 2024, Quang Nam planned to welcome 7.6 million visitors, including 3.9 million international visitors and 3.7 million domestic visitors. The province targeted VND 8.5 trillion in tourism revenue. These are plans and targets, not reported outcomes, so they should be kept separate from the 2023 results and the 2024 Hoi An and My Son counts.
The regional figures show why heritage tourism is broader than entrance tickets. Visitor totals include travel across a province, tourism revenue measures reported receipts, and social income is a separate wider economic measure. Hoi An’s relic inventory and My Son’s sanctuary revenue add site-level detail to that provincial picture.
National growth, capacity, and targets
At the end of 2023, Viet Nam had 3,921 international travel businesses. The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism reported that this was 1,027 more businesses than in 2022. The authority also estimated 2023 tourism receipts at VND 678 trillion.
For the end of 2024, the tourism industry aimed for 17–18 million international visitor arrivals and 110 million domestic visitor trips. Those were objectives, not measured totals. The reported 2024 international total of more than 17.5 million falls within that stated target range, while the supplied figures do not provide a corresponding final national domestic-trip result.
Hanoi illustrates the national operating environment, although its figures are not Central Vietnam figures. From January through November 2024, Hanoi welcomed 25.3 million visitors, up 12% year on year. It received 5.7 million international visitors, exceeding its 2024 target of 5.5 million, and international arrivals rose nearly 36% year on year. Domestic visitors totaled 19.7 million, up 6.3% year on year. Tourism revenue was nearly VND 100 trillion, up 18% year on year.
In November 2024 alone, Hanoi welcomed nearly 2.2 million tourists, up 16% year on year. International visitors numbered 680,800, up 28.4%, while domestic tourists numbered 1.5 million, up 7.1%. Hotel occupancy was estimated at 67%, up 14% from November 2023. The occupancy figure is explicitly an estimate and covers November, not the full January–November period.
Dien Bien’s 2024 cultural-programme figures show another way heritage travel can be organized. The province welcomed over 1,850,000 tourists, 1.8 times the 2023 total, including 12,347 international tourists, 1.4 times the 2023 figure. Tourism revenue exceeded VND 3,321 billion, 1.9 times 2023, and average tourist stay was 3 days.
The Visit Viet Nam Year – Dien Bien 2024 included nearly 170 programmes and events: 13 national programmes and events, 28 organized by Dien Bien Province, and 128 side events and activities. The side events involved 33 provinces and centrally run cities. The programme included 70th-anniversary commemorations of the Dien Bien Phu Victory. In 2024, Dien Bien Province also marked 115 years of establishment, 75 years of its Provincial Party Committee, and 20 years since its 2004 re-establishment. The opening of Visit Viet Nam Year 2024 was tied to the Ban Flower Festival 2024.