CAN THO – The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) and Can Tho City are seeking to restore direct international flights to Can Tho Airport as foreign visitors increasingly arrive through other gateways, instead of flying directly to the Mekong Delta city.
The plan was discussed at a meeting on May 14 between the city government and ACV on expanding and maintaining routes to the airport.
Nguyen Quoc Hung, head of ACV’s business and market development division, said international visitor numbers to Can Tho had returned to pre-pandemic levels and were expected to keep rising.
Can Tho welcomed around 409,000 international visitors in 2019. The figure was an estimated 445,000 in 2025 and could rise to about 620,000 this year.
Hung said improved transport infrastructure, especially expressways linking Can Tho with other provinces, together with tourist attractions such as Ninh Kieu Wharf and Cai Rang floating market, could help attract more foreign tourists and investors.
However, most international travelers are not flying directly to Can Tho.
ACV data showed Can Tho International Airport handled around 1.33 million passengers in 2019, including roughly 57,000 international travelers. By 2025, total passenger traffic was expected to fall to about 1.12 million, with international passengers yet to return.
Foreign visitors traveling to Can Tho currently arrive mainly by road or on domestic flights from Hanoi City and Danang City, Hung said.
ACV said its current goal is to restore direct international routes to Can Tho while expanding domestic connections to the Mekong Delta city.
Based on pre-pandemic data, ACV identified South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and China as key international markets for direct flights to Can Tho.
In 2019, around 24,000 Malaysian travelers flew directly to Can Tho, compared with 8,200 arriving indirectly via domestic routes. Thailand recorded about 11,500 direct arrivals and 13,600 indirect arrivals.
Hung said those figures suggested demand could support about three flights per week on certain routes.
On the domestic market, Can Tho Airport currently serves more domestic routes than other tier-two airports in Vietnam despite handling just over 1.1 million passengers annually.
Nguyen Cao Cuong, deputy general director of ACV, said closer cooperation with international travel companies would be needed to build stable inbound traffic for Can Tho.
He also suggested ACV and the city jointly propose visa incentives for some markets, including China, where visa requirements remain an obstacle for travelers.
Cuong added that Can Tho’s tourism sector should improve tourism products and services to better promote the city internationally.
Truong Canh Tuyen, chairman of the Can Tho City People’s Committee, said the city had asked investors to begin work within three months on a golf course project on Au Islet to help attract international tourists and investors.
He added that investors from South Korea and Japan had shown interest in Can Tho if the city developed a golf course, with the project expected to begin operations in 2027.
Tuyen also said the city was studying a long-term proposal for a new airport with a capacity of around 20 million passengers per year. The proposed site would be located near the intersection of the Chau Doc–Can Tho–Soc Trang and Can Tho–Ca Mau expressways.
The proposal is part of Can Tho’s broader urban planning orientation toward 2050, with planning work expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
