For the first time, more Russians are holidaying in Vietnam than in Thailand. In each month from May to July 2026, Vietnam received more Russian arrivals than Thailand, something that hasn’t happened in data going back to 2019, outside the Covid border closures of 2020.
Key takeaways
Russian trips to the 54 destinations we track rose 11.5% to 7.6m in Jan–Jul 2026.Vietnam drove 70% of that growth, with arrivals up 174% to 864k (+549k).Thailand is still second year to date (1.1m), but was flat at −0.7%.In July, Vietnam received 121k Russians, compared with 87k for Thailand.Turkey still dominates, with nearly half of all Russian trips (3.7m, +2.9%).
Growth slowed after the Iran war began in March, averaging +10.4% a month against +17.2% from October to February, before picking up to +15.2% in July.
AloJapan.com