The tourism industry has witnessed significant growth over the four-year period from 2014 to 2017, corresponding to a substantial rise in the number of both international and domestic visitors. The number of enterprises operating in the sector has increased by 28% in which the accommodation segment grows by 23%, and the tourist services segment achieves a higher growth rate of 36%. With regards to the labor force in the sector, the growth rate is lower compared to the number of enterprises with 16.3% for the whole sector, 15% growth in accommodation, and 21% in tourist services. The sector is dominated by small and micro businesses accounting for 80% of the number of enterprises.
Table 1: Number of enterprises in the tourism sector over the period 2014-2017
| Economic activity | VSIC code | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Accommodation services | 55 | 7,577 | 7,871 | 8,654 | 9,333 |
| Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service activities | 79 | 4,322 | 4,879 | 5,236 | 5,883 |
| Total tourism sector | 11,899 | 12,750 | 13,890 | 15,216 |
(Source: GSO – Enterprise survey, 2018)
Table 2: Number of employees in the tourism sector over the period 2014-2017
| Economic activity | VSIC code | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Accommodation services | 55 | 141,322 | 136,343 | 151,387 | 162,683 | |
| Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service activities | 79 | 33,489 | 35,136 | 35,870 | 40,675 | |
| Total tourism sector | 174,811 | 171,479 | 187,257 | 203,358 |
(Source: GSO – Enterprise survey, 2018)
Table 3: Number of enterprises in the tourism sector as of 31 Dec 2017 by the size of employees
| Economic activity | Total | <5 pers | 5-9 pers | 10-49 pers | 50-199 | 200-299 | 300-499 | 500-999 | 1000-4999 | > 5000 |
| Accommodation services | 9,333 | 4,960 | 2,268 | 1,542 | 432 | 54 | 42 | 28 | 6 | 1 |
| Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service activities | 5,883 | 3,549 | 1,535 | 717 | 70 | 7 | 3 | – | 2 | – |
| Total tourism sector | 15,216 | 8,509 | 3,803 | 2,259 | 502 | 61 | 45 | 28 | 8 | 1 |
(Source: GSO – Enterprise survey, 2018)
Based on the statistics of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism as of 2018, there were 2,022 licensed tour operators. The number of tour operators is increasing every year, with a growth rate ranging from 7% to 9%. Table 4 shows that by 2018 60% of businesses belong to limited-liability enterprises, 39% are joint-stock enterprises, 1% are foreign-invested enterprises, approximately 0.3% are private enterprises. The fluctuation of enterprises in international travel service business mainly occurred in the group of joint-stock and limited liability enterprises, while the number of state-owned enterprises under the equitization process has decreased over the period.
Table 4: Number of tour operators by types of business
| Types of enterprises | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| State owned enterprises | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 |
| Limited liability companies | 949 | 1,012 | 1,081 | 1,164 |
| Joint stock companies | 474 | 475 | 489 | 556 |
| Private enterprises | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 |
| Foreign invested enterprises | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 |
| Total | 1,456 | 1,519 | 1,600 | 1,752 |
(Source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism)
In recent years, the system of tourist accommodation establishments in Vietnam has changed dramatically in quantity and quality. In terms of quantity, the average growth rate is about 18.4% per year, with rooms’ growth rate of about 16% per year. The number of tourist accommodation establishments and rooms has increased over time. With the supply of rooms from the new accommodation establishment, the average occupancy rate had declined from 69% in 2014 to 56.5% in 2017. By the end of 2017, the number of accommodation establishments nationwide was 17,422, with over 370,000 rooms.
In total, there are 116 five-star hotels with 33,700 rooms, 259 four-star hotels with 33,500 rooms, 488 three-star hotels with 34,200 rooms, 04 five-star apartment areas with 882 rooms, 03 tourist apartments with 494 rooms, 02 luxury tourist apartments with 262 rooms, 03 luxury tourist villas with 75 rooms, and 01 three-star tourist village with 62 rooms.
Of the total classified tourist accommodation establishments, hotels and motels account for the largest proportion, respectively 45% and 44.6%. The type of housing business with rooms for tourists (homestays) accounts for about 8.6%. Other types such as tourist villages, tourist ships, tourist villas, tourist apartments, tourist camping sites only account for 1.7%.
Table 5: Number of tourist accommodations
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Number of accommodations | 12,376 | 13,029 | 14,453 | 17,422 |
| Number of rooms | 263,468 | 288,935 | 318,237 | 370,907 |
| Average occupancy | 69 | 55 | 57 | 56.5 |
(Source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism)
Table 6: Facilities of 3- to 5-star class accommodation establishments from 2013-2017
| Year | Total | 5-star class | 4-star class | 3-star class | ||||
| Number of est. | Number of rooms | Number of est. | Number of rooms | Number of est. | Number of rooms | Number of est. | Number of rooms | |
| 2013 | 598 | 62.002 | 64 | 15.385 | 159 | 20.27 | 375 | 26.347 |
| 2014 | 640 | 66.728 | 72 | 17.659 | 187 | 22.569 | 381 | 26.5 |
| 2015 | 747 | 82.325 | 91 | 24.212 | 215 | 27.379 | 441 | 30.734 |
| 2016 | 784 | 91.250 | 107 | 30.624 | 230 | 29.387 | 442 | 30.902 |
| 2017 | 863 | 101.400 | 116 | 33.700 | 259 | 33.500 | 488 | 34.200 |
(Source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism)
By region, the Red River Delta and Northeast Coast region leads the country in the number of ranked tourist accommodation establishments with 3,226 establishments, accounting for 22.3%. Followed by the Southeast region with 3,028 establishments, accounting for 21%. In terms of the number of rooms, the Southeast region leads the country with 70,805 rooms, accounting for 22.2%. Ranked last in 7 tourist regions is the Central Highlands with 1,219 establishments (accounting for 8.4%) and 20,903 accommodations (accounting for 6.6%).
Table 7: Distribution of tourist accommodations by region 2016
| Region | Number of accommodations | Number of rooms | ||
| Quantity | % | Quantity | % | |
| Red River Delta & Northeast Coast | 3,226 | 22.3 | 62,385 | 19.6 |
| Northern Midland & Mountainous Region | 2,871 | 20 | 37,610 | 11.8 |
| North Central Coast | 1,225 | 8.5 | 41,318 | 13 |
| South Central Coast | 1,383 | 9.6 | 55,011 | 17.3 |
| Central Highland | 1,219 | 8.4 | 20,903 | 6.6 |
| Southeast | 3,028 | 21 | 70,805 | 22.2 |
| Mekong River Delta | 1,501 | 10.3 | 30,205 | 9.5 |
| Total | 14,453 | 100 | 318,237 | 100 |
(Source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism)
