Vietnam records surge in foreign tourists

Vietnam welcomed more than 6.2 million foreign visitors in the first half of 2017, up 30.2 percent against last year, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism reported on June 28.

Foreign tourists visit Can Tho city

However, June saw some 949,400 international arrivals, dropping 2.4 percent compared to the previous month.

During the six-month period, arrivals by air reached 5.21 million, up 33 percent year on year while the numbers of visitors coming by sea and land rose by 25 percent and 15.8 percent, respectively.

The highest increase - 56.7 percent - was reported in the number of Chinese tourists. The Russia market came second with a rise of 53.4 percent, followed by the Republic of Korea, 43.9 percent and Cambodia, 35.5 percent.

The African market showed a yearly increase of 27 percent with 17,000 arrivals in the reviewed time.

From January to June, the tourism sector served 40.7 million domestic travellers, earning 254.7 trillion VND (11.1 billion USD) in revenue, a 27 percent yearly surge, the administration noted.

In the reviewed time, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism held many promotion events. In particular, the agency openedVietnam’s booth at the Korean World Travel Fair (KOTFA) 2017 in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, to promote Vietnamese tourism and attract more foreign visitors.

The administration has chosen 2017 as the Travel Year, aiming to enhance service quality of travel agencies and government’s management over travel operation. Accordingly, it will focus on advertising work and providing trainings to improve human resources quality.

VNA