International visitors to Vietnam up in year's first half

June 29, 2011
Source: Monsters and Critics

Hanoi - The number of foreigners visiting Vietnam increased in the first half of 2011 by more than 18 per cent from the same period last year as the global tourism industry saw a recovery, authorities said Wednesday.

Foreign arrivals to the country from January to June rose to 2.97 million, the National Administration of Tourism said.

Asia accounted for the largest numbers of tourists, led by China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and Cambodia.

Cambodian visitors produced the biggest year-on-year increase in tourist arrivals at 77 per cent, followed by China with 52 per cent and Malaysia at 17 per cent.

'Foreign visitors are up partly to the recovery of global tourism but also thanks to our efforts in tourism-promotion campaigns,' said Vu The Binh, chairman of Vietnam Travel Association.

The campaigns included advertisements on CNN, BBC and Chinese television over the past three years.

Vietnam, once one of the fastest-growing tourist magnets in the region, last year attracted more than 5 million foreign visitors, up 34.8 per cent from 2009. The country expected an increase of 20 per cent this year, Binh said.

Vietnam aims to attract 5.5 million foreign arrivals this year and gain tourism revenues of 5.64 billion dollars.

The tourism industry contributed 3.9 per cent, or 3.78 billion dollars, to the national gross domestic product last year.