HANOI: Vietnam’s tourism sector served over 6.2 million foreign visitors and 40.5 million domestic tourists in the first four months of this year, earning 271.4 trillion VND (nearly US$10.7 billion) in revenue, the state news agency (VNA) quoted the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) as saying.

The number of international visitors increased by 68.3% over the same period in 2023, statistics showed.

In April alone, the country welcomed over 1.5 million foreign visitors. In particular, the number of holidaymakers to Vietnam in the four months was 3.9% higher than the pre-COVID-19 period, indicating positive recovery and development of the tourism sector, said the VNAT under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

The Republic of Korea (RoK) remained the largest foreign tourist source, with 1.6 million arrivals, accounting for 25.8% of the total international arrivals in Vietnam.

The number of Asians coming to Vietnam soared 77.2% year-on-year, making Asia the leading regional source of visito
rs. In particular, tourists from large markets in Northeast Asia, including China, the RoK, and Japan, were the main growth drivers. Besides, positive growth was also recorded in the numbers of visitors from Southeast Asian markets like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

Tourists from Europe continued to rise strongly thanks to the favourable visa policy applied since 15th August 2023, including such main markets as the UK (35.2%), France (41.7%), Germany (36.9%), Italy (77.4%), Spain (48.5%), and Russia (74%).

Source: Emirates News Agency