Golden year for tourism sector

The Thua Thien-Hue provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism reported that the province received nearly 65,000 visitors, nearly 60% of them are foreigners on the first four days of January. Room occupancy rate of big hotels reached 65-70%.

Nearly 63,000 tourists arrived in Danang City on New Year holidays, a year-on-year increase of 32%, of whom 33,000 were foreigners (up 30.1%) and nearly 30,000 are domestic holidaymakers (up 34.4%).

A Saigontourist representative said all tours in January were booked by more than 30,000 domestic and foreign tourists. Foreign arrivals came to Vietnam on New Year holidays from the EU, the US, Asia and Australia by air and sea to discover the country’s historical and cultural relics and enjoy traditional dishes.

The company is expected to serve 800 passengers and crew on board the Azamara Quest which will be en route from Ha Long bay to Danang and HCM City from January 7-13. Around 2,800 tourists and crew on board the Celebrity Century will visit tourism attractions from Vung Tau to Hue on January 27-29 and 9,600 others on board the Costa Victoria will tour Ha Long bay on January 17, 21, 25 and 29.

Earlier, the company received 3,500 visitors from the US, UK, Canada and Australia on board a luxury cruise ship. It also served a large number of domestic holidaymakers and overseas Vietnamese who toured three regions of Vietnam and visited Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia.

On New Year holidays, Vietravel also welcomed 13,000 tourists, an increase of 15% against a year earlier.