Viet Nam received 1.43 million foreign tourists in January, a year-on-year increase of 42 per cent and 12.1 per cent higher than that in December 2017, says the General Statistics Office.

The number of visitors increased this month because of two main reasons ---overseas Vietnamese had come to Viet Nam for Tet (Lunar New Year), and for countries in Europe, the United States and Australia, January was winter holiday season, leading to a higher demand in travelling abroad.

In January, visitors from Asia were estimated at more than one million, a year-on-year surge of 53.9 per cent. Visitors from most of the major markets for Viet Nam increased, including tourists from mainland China, up by 69 per cent, and South Korea, up by 84 per cent. The number of visitors increased by 22.9 per cent from Taiwan, 35.5 per cent from Malaysia, 11.3 per cent from Thailand, 16 per cent from Singapore and 36.6 per cent from Cambodia.

According to the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the domestic tourism industry has actively promoted tourism activities since the beginning of this year to attract more tourists, aiming to welcome 15-17 million tourists in the entire year.

Viet Nam attended the 2018 ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF 2018) in Thailand from January 22-26. Within the framework of this event, Viet Nam organised many activities, such as the opening of a tourism booth at the fair and “Vietnam Night” to introduce Vietnamese tourism. Viet Nam will host ATF 2019 in Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province.

In 2017, Viet Nam welcomed nearly 13 million international tourists and 74 million domestic tourists. Viet Nam’s tourism industry is closely linked to ASEAN countries and partners for sustainable development of the country’s tourism. — VNS