Vietnamese tourists travel abroad on a tour package. — Photo vovdulich.vn

HCM CITY — Việt Nam’s outbound tourists, who still prefer paying in cash, could surpass the number of Thailand's in the next decade, according to a report from the tourism consulting firm Outbox Consulting.

The report titled “Vietnam Outbound Travel Trends 2019” found that Asia remained the most visited outbound destinations by Vietnamese travelers.

The reports said that Vietnamese travelers preferred to make cash payments rather than cashless transactions, with 60.4 per cent of polled travelers using the US dollar or foreign currencies at destinations abroad.

More than 50 per cent of Vietnamese travelers said they paid by credit cards when traveling abroad.

A Vietnamese traveler on a tour package spent around VNĐ10-20 million (US$430-861) for each overseas trip, while spending of Vietnamese independent travelers was estimated at VNĐ5-10 million ($215-430) for each overseas trip.

Some 52 per cent of Vietnamese tourists are independent travelers who design their own itineraries and arrange their own travel plans, while 38 per cent buy group tour packages. Only 10 per cent of Vietnamese tourists travel abroad on tailored tours.

The survey polled around 1,053 Vietnamese people aged 20-50 who had traveled abroad in the past 12 months.

The survey cited ASEAN travel statistics that said the number of outbound trips from Việt Nam rose to 8.6 million last year from 4.8 million in 2012.

The rapid growth was seen as a result of various socio-economic factors, especially the growth of the middle class with incomes of VNĐ15 million ($646) per month or more.

In addition, nearly 60 per cent of Vietnamese under 35 years old, with better education and income than those from previous generations, were also contributing to tourism growth abroad. — VNS