The information was released by the Office of the Government on Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue’s decision at a meeting to discuss a draft project on developing the sector. 

The Deputy PM instructed the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to coordinate with the office to complete the draft project, including an evaluation of the sector’s pros and cons, especially in infrastructure, environment, products and manpower.

The Deputy PM also requested restructuring measures for the sector between 2016-2020 with a focus on three key areas, including completing tourism development policies, boosting manpower and devising incentives to attract investment in the area.

The ministry will submit the draft project to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc before September 24, 2016.

According to statistics from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Vietnam welcomed more than 6.45 million foreign visitors in the first eight months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 25.4 percent. 

Chinese visitors topped the list with more than 1.75 million holiday-makers, followed by the Republic of Korea with more than one million visitors and Japan with 482,358 tourists.

The number of domestic tourists in the period was 43.1 million visitors, a 22.5 percent year-on-year rise.-