Randir Brar, a representative from travel agency Destinos India, told VnExpress International that the number of Indian visitors to Vietnam could see a big surge following the launch of direct flights.

“The direct air routes will help cut traveling time between the two countries from 15 to six hours, making it easier for more Indians to travel to Vietnam and contribute to bilateral tourism,” he added.

India, with the second largest population in the world only after China, is considered one of the most promising tourism markets. Every year, around 25 million Indian tourists travel abroad and the figure has been rising in recent years, according to India’s tourism ministry.

However, the number of Indian tourist arrivals to Vietnam remains modest compared to other Asian countries like China and South Korea. Just 130,000 Indians visited Vietnam in 2018, while neighboring Thailand received 1.5 million. China and South Korea remain Vietnam’s top feeder markets with 4.9 million and 3.4 million visitors last year respectively.

Currently, flights from Vietnam to India and vice versa have to transit in other countries. Vietnamese Ambassador to India, Pham Sanh Chau, said the long flight time, inconvenient flight routes and expensive travel costs are the main reasons for fewer Indian tourists traveling to Vietnam.

Chau said that the upcoming launch of direct flights was a great opportunity to promote bilateral tourism cooperation in the context of Vietnam looking for ways to diversify its tourism markets to reduce dependence on Chinese tourists.

Indian budget carrier Indigo plans to launch the first direct flights between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to the eastern Indian city of Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) on October 3 and 18 respectively.

Meanwhile, Vietjet Air will become the first Vietnamese airline to launch direct air links with India. This carrier’s Ho Chi Minh City-New Delhi route is set to open on December 6, with four flights a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, while the Hanoi-New Delhi route will operate from December 7 onwards with three flights a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Vietnam first allowed foreign tourists to apply for a visa online in February 2017, starting with 40 countries including China, South Korea and the U.S. In December that year, six countries were added to the list, including India and Australia.

The World Tourism Organization has forecast that the number of Indian tourists going abroad will reach about 50 million by 2020, making India an attractive tourism market that many countries aim to invest in, including Vietnam.

India has become a leading travel choice of Vietnamese tourists in recent years. Last year, the number of Vietnamese visiting India was more than 31,000, up 32 percent from a year ago.

India, known for the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO heritage site and one of the world’s seven wonders, is also home to famous Buddhist temples, including the place where the Buddha became enlightened, making it a favored spiritual destination for many Vietnamese. India is also a leading destination for cultural and healthcare tours.

The country moved from 67th position to 63rd out of 140 economies, according to the biennial Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report produced earlier this week by the World Economic Forum.

However, it fares unfavorably against Southeast Asian peers like Singapore (17th), Malaysia (29th), Thailand (31st) and Indonesia (40th). In Southeast Asia, Vietnam stands above the Philippines (75th), Laos (97th) and Cambodia (98th).

The competitiveness ranking is based on 14 factors divided into four sub-indexes, including enabling environment, travel and tourism policy, infrastructure, and natural and cultural resources that enable the sustainable development of the travel and tourism sector, which contributes to the development and competitiveness of a country.

Vietnam’s overall score increased 0.12 points from 2017 to 3.9 thanks to improvements in international openness, visa policies, price competitiveness, airport infrastructure and tourist services.

The country’s tourism has been limited by low labor productivity and readiness for applying advanced information and communications technologies, the report said.

Its competitiveness index in the category of visa requirements has made substantial progress from 116th in 2017 to 53rd this year as the government has been doing more to extend visa waiver policies.

Vietnam currently offers visa exemptions to travelers from 24 countries, and e-visas for 80 countries and territories.

Spain held on to the top spot in the global tourism competitiveness ranking, followed by France, Germany and Japan, with the U.S. replacing the UK in the top five.

The report added that Asia-Pacific was one of the fastest-growing travel and tourism regions in this year’s ranking.

Japan remained Asia’s most competitive travel and tourism economy, ranking 4th globally, while China was the largest travel and tourism economy in Asia-Pacific and 13th most competitive globally.

Besides Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore are the only Southeast Asian representatives to enter the top five, with the former securing the third place and the latter in fourth.

The JATA survey, released early this month, polled more than 300 travel companies around the world to find travel trends among Japanese holiday-goers this summer.

The U.S.’s Hawaii topped the list. The rest of the top 10 were Hong Kong, South Korea, Guam Island in the U.S., the Philippines and mainland China.

Japan is third largest source of market for Vietnamese tourism, after China and South Korea. Last year, Vietnam received more than 820,000 Japanese tourists, up 3.6 percent from a year ago.

The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) has reported that the number of Japanese overseas travelers in the January-April period this year jumped by 10 percent from a year ago to 6.53 million.

The boom in Japanese tourist arrivals in Vietnam in recent years has prompted Vietnamese carriers to open direct flights connecting the country’s major cities with Japan.

Vietnam’s private budget carrier Vietjet Air recently announced the launch of two new direct routes connecting Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang with Tokyo this year.

The HCMC-Tokyo daily flight is expected to take off from July 12 onwards, taking passengers six hours  while daily flight service from Da Nang to Tokyo is scheduled to begin from October 26 onwards, taking around seven hours.

In 2017, budget air carrier Jetstar Pacific opened two direct flights connecting Hanoi and Da Nang to Osaka, one of the most famous tourist cities in Japan.

Foreign tourists in Vietnam during the first six months of this year reached 8.5 million, up 7.5 percent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office.

Many travel agencies have said that Vietnam should further relax its visa policies and simplify procedures to attract high spending tourists from Japan, North America, Northern Europe, China and South Korea. They have called for the current 15-day visa exemption extended to 30 days.