According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, foreign arrivals to Vietnam in September are estimated at around 460,000, up nearly 62 percent against the same period last year.

The number of tourists from the Republic of Korea saw the sharpest increase of 38.2 percent, followed by Malaysia (up 25.4 percent), Japan (up 24.5 percent), Thailand (up 23.4 percent), Taiwan (up 19.4 percent) and France (up 8.1 percent).

Statistics show that 2,877,000 visitors came to Vietnam for tourism and relaxation (up 10.5 percent), 852,400 for business (up 19 percent) and 853,500 to visit relatives (up 18.2 percent).

Vietnam’s tourism sector hopes to welcome 6.5 million international arrivals in 2012 (up 8.3 percent compared to the previous year), and 32 million local tourists (up 6.7 percent), aiming to earn VND150,000 billion, 15 percent more than last year.