Russian Tourists Return to Nha Trang on Charter Flight After Three-Year Hiatus
A chartered airplane carrying 231 passengers from Russia landed at Cam Ranh International Airport close to the coastal city of Nha Trong on Monday, signaling its comeback after a three-year pause.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, direct flights between Russia and Nha Trang ceased operations at the beginning of 2022.
The Khanh Hoa Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, working alongside Anex Vietnam and various organizations, greeted the landing of Azu Air LLC’s Flight ZV2577 coming from Irkutsk International Airport in Russia. They celebrated this event with a ceremonial water cannon salute and a traditional lion dance as the aircraft arrived at Cam Ranh airport.
The passengers on the chartered flights received keepsake presents as well. This initiative comes after the province’s tourism promotional activities in Russia, such as a conference held in Moscow.
As stated by the department, Russian visitors usually remain for a minimum of five nights, primarily staying at three-to-five-star accommodations, as part of comprehensive tour packages that cover Nha Trang’s famous sites.
Anex Vietnam, which is leading the initiative for welcoming back Russian tourists, intends to run chartered flights originating from 11 different cities across Russia to Cam Ranh International Airport. The listed cities encompass Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Tomsk, Novokuznetsk, and Blagoveshchensk.
The firm plans to operate around 12 chartered flights in March 2025, which will increase to between 50 and 55 flights each month from April through June. The schedule will then ramp up even more to 90 to 100 flights monthly starting in July.
Prior to the onset of COVID-19, Russian tourists constituted the second largest visitor group to Khanh Hoa, totaling over 460,000 visitors in 2019. However, due to the pandemic and related geopolitical challenges, these figures plummeted to around 14,000 in 2022 and increased slightly to 51,200 in 2023. By 2024, the number of arriving Russians surged to 105,513, which was more than twice as many as the prior year yet only amounted to approximately 22.8% of the pre-pandemic level from 2019.
In 2025, Khanh Hoa plans to welcome approximately 11.8 million travelers, with 5.2 million being from abroad. The overall income generated from tourism is projected to amount to VND60 trillion (approximately US$2.35 billion).
Global entries surpassed 1.3 million, showing an increase of 12.5%. Meanwhile, during the initial two months of this year, Russian entrants hit 24,000, indicating a substantial rise of 73.15% from what was recorded in early 2024.
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