More than 7.89 million foreign arrivals to Vietnam

Of that figure, the number of visitors arriving by air increased by 22.2%, with arrivals by road up 63.7% and by sea up 1.7%.

The number of foreign arrivals from Asia surged 32.7% from the same period last year, with major markets seeing strong growth such as China (up 36.1%), and the Republic of Korea (up 60.7%). Tourist arrivals from other continents also saw growth, such as the EU (11%), America (13.5%), Oceania (10%) and Africa (22.2%).

The results are attributed to the great efforts of the tourism sector, especially in organising tourism promotion activities for international markets. Recently, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) worked with many travel agents to advertise the country’s tourism in the four European countries of Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic from June 19-28. This is the first time Vietnam has promoted tourism in Hungary.

Vietnam’s tourism was also introduced in Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu and Busan in the Republic of Korea from June 18-25 with a wide range of products in line with Korean tastes. VNAT has organized large scale roadshows in the RoK’s big cities for the first time with the participation of Vietnamese Tourism Ambassador to the RoK, Ly Xuong Can.

Vietnam received 2.4 million Korean visitors last year, up 56.4% over the previous year, and more than 1.7 million Korean tourists have arrived during the first half of this year, up 60.7% on 2017. Conversely, the number of Vietnamese holidaymakers to the RoK also saw a spike, with 323,000 visiting the country last year.

The visa exemption policy for visitors from five European countries of the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy who visit Vietnam for under 15 days will continue to be valid for the next three years from July 1. These visitors are expected to be high-spenders during their long stays, bringing in huge profits for Vietnam’s tourism.

The VNAT is also scheduled to promote tourism in France, Spain, Italy and Germany from September 25 to October 7 to attract ever more visitors to the country.