Int’l arrivals up 5.9% in 7 months
(VOV) - The number of international tourists in July was estimated at 658,000, up 16% over the previous month and 28.5% against the same month last year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).
VNAT said the July figure raised the total of foreign arrivals in the past seven months to nearly 4.2 million, up 5.9% compared to last year’s same period.
They mainly came from China (up 29.2 percent), the Republic of Korea (up 4.3%), Japan (up 2.9%), Australia (up 12.7%), Malaysia (up 12.1%), Thailand (up 25.5%), Russia (up 57.4%) and the UK (up 4.4%).
In the context of the global economic downturn, the rising number of foreign arrivals in Vietnam is a promising sign. However, the tourism sector will have to make greater efforts to achieve its target of welcoming more than 7 million international visitors by the end of this year.