Flight bookings to Vietnam surge

Asian tourist hotspots including Vietnam have become increasingly popular with international travelers post Covid, despite a sharp rise in airfares, aviation data shows.

Bookings from the United Kingdom to Malaysia and Vietnam are up by more than 2,200% against early last year when both countries were still closed to international tourists, CNN reported, citing data from travel service provider Flight Centre U.K.

Its data also revealed a 25% increase in economy fares to Vietnam year on year, while airfares to Thailand are up 50%.

"Demand is high for the last region to widely lift Covid restrictions and throw open its doors to international visitors," said Hayley Berg, an economist at U.S-based travel site Hopper. "Compared with 2019, Asia fares are about 50% higher, sometimes more, while Europe is about 15% higher."

Southeast Asian countries have fully reopened their doors to foreign tourists and lifted most Covid restrictions.

The number of international passengers going through Vietnamese airports in the first two months of this year reached 4.7 million, up 1,959% year-on-year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

Despite being one of the first Southeast Asian countries to fully reopen after Covid, Vietnam only received 3.6 million foreign tourists last year, around 20% of pre-pandemic levels.

This year it is targeting 8 million arrivals.