Selling Vietnam to Russian Clients: Flights, Beach Product and What Actually Converts

Selling Vietnam to Russian Clients: Flights, Beach Product and What Actually Converts in 2027

In the first six months of 2026, more Russians visited Vietnam than in the whole of 2025.

Read that again. Not more than last summer. More than the entire previous year – and 2025 was already the best year in a decade.

Russia is now Vietnam’s third-largest source market and by far its largest European one. Two years ago it was outside the top five. If you sell Vietnam and you have not looked at this market recently, you are looking at an old map.

Here is what the numbers actually say, where the planes actually land, and the one bottleneck that will decide how much of this you can service.

Russian Tourists in Vietnam: The 2027 Guide for Agents

The numbers, quickly

• 2025: 689,714 Russian arrivals, up 197% on 2024. That already beat the pre-pandemic 2019 figure of 646,500.
• First half of 2026: 742,700. Up 186% year on year, and more than all of 2025 in six months.
• January to July 2026: around 863,500.
• Full-year 2026 is widely expected to land near one million. Russian industry bodies give a range of 1.0 to 1.2 million.
• In July 2026, Vietnam accounted for 7.8% of all Russian package tours – ahead of Thailand at 4.7% and China at 4.3%.

That last line is the one to remember. In the packaged segment, where this market actually lives, Vietnam has already overtaken Thailand.

Why it is happening now

Three things came together at once.

Demand moved. Russian holidaymakers who used to fill Turkey, Egypt and the UAE started looking elsewhere, and Vietnam caught the redirect. Russian operators sum it up neatly: cheaper than Turkey, more colourful than Thailand.

Capacity arrived. Charter programmes restarted after a five-year gap, and scheduled carriers followed. Twenty-five Russian cities now have a direct air link to Vietnam.

And the paperwork got easy – which brings us to the detail most agents get wrong.

The visa detail agents get wrong

Russian passport holders get 45 days in Vietnam without a visa. The legal basis is Resolution 44/NQ-CP, and it runs from 15 March 2025 to 14 March 2028.

Here is the part people misstate. The 45 days is not new. It has been in place since 15 August 2023, when it replaced the old 15-day allowance. What the 2025 resolution did was extend the policy’s validity out to 2028.

So two mistakes to avoid: do not tell a client they get 15 days, and do not sell the 45 days as a 2026 novelty. Both make you look like you are working from old notes.

For longer stays there is the e-visa: up to 90 days, 25 US dollars single entry or 50 dollars multiple entry, applied for online with three to seven working days of processing. In practice you will rarely need it. Typical Russian stays run 9 to 14 nights, and even the long-stay winter clients – some book up to 28 nights – sit comfortably inside the 45-day exemption.

Where the flights actually go

This is a charter-led market with a scheduled backbone. The picture as of August 2026:

Cam Ranh alone now handles 10 to 12 flights a day from Russia and the CIS, carrying 2,000 to 2,500 passengers daily.

The seasonal rotation nobody talks about

The old story was simple: Russians came to Vietnam for winter beach, October to April, and Nha Trang got almost all of them. That story is now out of date.

What has happened is that the market has stopped being seasonal and started being rotational. The volume no longer switches off in summer – it moves.

For a ground operator that changes the planning question completely. It is no longer ‘how many rooms do I need in Nha Trang in January’. It is ‘where is my guide team in June’.

Where they actually go

What the Russian client actually books

If you are used to Western European clients, recalibrate. This is a different shape of booking.

• Length of stay: 9 to 14 nights is standard. Some winter clients book up to 28. Compare that with the 5 to 7 nights many European agents plan around.
• Hotel category: 3 to 5 star, with the larger operators skewing towards 4 and 5 star beachfront.
• Average package price: around 78,000 to 80,000 roubles per person. Average check is rising 10 to 15%, driven by longer stays rather than higher nightly rates.
• Booking lead time: 2 to 4 months typically, stretching to 8 months for Christmas and New Year departures.
• Who travels: the core is 30 to 50 travelling as a family, with a significant 50-plus segment looking for slow, unhurried stays.
• Structure: overwhelmingly packaged. This market is built on charter capacity contracted by tour operators. Independent travellers exist, mainly on the scheduled services into Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The long stay is the commercial headline. A fourteen-night booking at four stars is worth more to you than two seven-night bookings, and it costs you less to service.

The bottleneck that will decide your 2027

Not rooms. Not seats. Guides.

Khanh Hoa province – the heart of this entire market – has 83 licensed Russian-speaking guides. Eighty-three, for a province that took over half a million Russian guests in five months.

One major operator reported having twelve Russian speakers among forty guides, against an expected 183,000 Russian and CIS visitors for the summer. Its guides were described as working continuously without days off. Russian-speaking guides earn upwards of 1,100 US dollars a month, roughly double an English-speaking guide, and positions still go unfilled.

Getting your client paid for

This is unglamorous and it is where trips go wrong. Brief your clients before they fly.

• Mir cards work in Vietnam only through VRB, the Vietnam-Russia Bank, which has roughly 18 to 20 ATMs in the whole country. In-shop acceptance almost never works.
• Those ATMs are in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Da Nang and Vung Tau. There are none on Phu Quoc, none in Mui Ne and none in Da Lat – which matters, because Phu Quoc is a growth destination.
• QR payments through the Sber and VTB apps now work with VietQR and VNPAY, with no commission. The app must be installed before leaving Russia.
• UnionPay cards issued by Rosselkhozbank are widely accepted.
• US dollars in cash still give the best rate, losing only 0.5 to 1.5% on exchange.

A one-page payment note in the pre-departure pack prevents more complaints than almost anything else you can send.

Who is selling Vietnam in Russia

Market shares below come from a survey of Moscow-region travel agents for the summer 2026 season. Treat them as directional rather than national.

The pattern worth noticing: the four largest operators have all built or bought their own ground handling in Vietnam. The opportunity for an independent DMC sits with everyone else – the GDS-based newcomers, the regional agencies and the corporate and incentive buyers who have no in-house Vietnam capability at all.

Five things to do before the winter season

1. Confirm your Russian-speaking guide numbers now, in writing, for December through March. This is the constraint.
2. Move your Phu Quoc planning three weeks earlier. The season starts in late September this year.
3. Check your product for length of stay. If your Vietnam packages top out at seven nights, you are pricing yourself out of the strongest part of this market.
4. Add a payment briefing to your pre-departure documents, with the VRB ATM locations and the warning that Phu Quoc has none.
5. Update your province names. Phu Quoc is in An Giang now, and Mui Ne is in Lam Dong – your contracts and vouchers may still say otherwise.

Frequently asked questions

How long can Russian citizens stay in Vietnam without a visa?

Forty-five days from the date of entry, regardless of purpose. The policy is set out in Resolution 44/NQ-CP and is valid until 14 March 2028. The passport needs six months of validity and two blank pages.

Is the 45-day visa exemption for Russians new?

No. The 45-day allowance has been in place since 15 August 2023, when it replaced a 15-day allowance. The 2025 resolution extended the policy’s validity to 2028 rather than changing its length.

Which Vietnamese airport do most Russian tourists arrive at?

Cam Ranh, serving Nha Trang. It handles 10 to 12 flights a day from Russia and the CIS in season. Da Nang has grown quickly for summer and Phu Quoc leads the winter charter programme.

How long do Russian tourists stay in Vietnam?

Typically 9 to 14 nights, with some winter clients booking up to 28. That is roughly double the length of stay of many Western European markets.

Do Mir cards work in Vietnam?

Only through VRB, the Vietnam-Russia Bank, which has about 18 to 20 ATMs nationally. There are none on Phu Quoc, in Mui Ne or in Da Lat. QR payments through the Sber and VTB apps are a better option, but the app must be installed before travelling.

Is it hard to find Russian-speaking guides in Vietnam?

Yes, and this is currently the biggest operational constraint in the market. Khanh Hoa province has 83 licensed Russian-speaking guides. Salaries are roughly double those of English-speaking guides and positions still go unfilled.

The bottom line

This is the fastest-growing significant market Vietnam has, it books long stays at good hotel categories, and its visa position is guaranteed until 2028. The demand is not the problem.

The problem is capacity to service it well – specifically, people who can stand in front of a Russian family and tell them about Vietnam in their own language. Agents who lock that down early will have a very good 2027. Agents who assume it can be arranged closer to the date will spend the winter apologising.

Sort out the guides. Everything else follows.