Foreign tourists visit Cham Museum in Da Nang City. — VNS Photo Tran Le Lam

HA NOI – The growth rate of Viet Nam's tourism sector has been higher than its targets in terms of volume of tourists, revenue and facilities.

This follows five years of implementation of its tourism development strategy towards 2020 and 2030.

According to the Viet Nam National Tourism Administration's Institute for Tourism Development and Research, foreign tourist arrivals grew at 5.7 per cent on average each year during the 2011-15 period, while the local tourists grew at 16.3 per cent a year.

In 2011, the local tourism industry received six million foreign tourists and served 30 million local tourists, rising to 7.9 million foreign tourists and 38.5 million local tourists in 2014.

Meanwhile, Viet Nam received seven million foreign tourists and 53.8 million local tourists in the first 11 months of this year.

The target number of 7.5 million foreign tourists has already been achieved for 2015, with the number of local tourists – at 36 million to 37 million – even exceeding the target.

The local tourism industry has been successful even though it faced many difficulties, the institute said. It has even created favourable conditions for the centre to develop conditions for the industrial sector's growth.

The tourism industry has also achieved its targets in terms of total revenue, with an average 25 per cent annual growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP), the institute said.

The total revenue earned from tourists touched VND130 trillion (US$5.77 billion) in 2011, surging to VND230 trillion ($10.2 billion) in 2014. In the first 11 months of this year, the figure stood at VND313 trillion ($13.91 billion), higher than the targeted VND220 trillion to VND230 trillion.

The nation had 419,280 hotel suites as of 2015, with their number growing at 15.87 per cent each year, the institute said, beating the 2015 target of 390,000 suites, as per the development strategy towards 2020.

The local tourism industry had 91 five-star hotels, 219 four-star hotels and 442 three-star hotels.

The quality of hotels has improved due to the development of luxury resorts in the central coastal provinces, Phu Quoc and some beaches in the north, under the strategy. Private investment in hotels and restaurants has risen strongly in the past five years.

The development of hotels has attracted large local and foreign investors, such as Accord, Marriott, Park Hyatt and Hilton, besides Movenpick, Vingroup, Sun Group and Muong Thanh, to increase the volume and quality of hotels as well as the growth of the local tourism sector. – VNS