WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Aug 01, 2016 / 19:27

Foreign visitors to Vietnam increase over 41% in July

Vietnam welcomed 846,311 international tourists in July this year, a growth of 41.2% year on year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

The VNAT said the figure pushed the total foreign visitors to Vietnam in the first seven months of this year to 5.5 million, an increase of 24 percent over the same period last year.
Among the total, 4.66 million visitors arrived in Vietnam by air, while 86,321 others traveled by sea and 806,389 by road. 
An upturn was recorded in almost all markets, with the highest rise in the Hong Kong market with 111.8 percent, followed by China with 54.5 percent, Thailand with 37.2 percent, the Republic of Korea, 37 percent, and Laos, 30.8 percent. 
The VNAT revealed that the total number of domestic tourists hit 38.2 million, and the total revenue of the tourism sector was over 234.97 trillion VND (10.68 billion USD), up 22.9 percent year on year. 
Responding to some travel firms’ concerns about the possible reduction of foreign visitors to the country in the time ahead due to visa policies and limited capacity of travel businesses, VNAT Director Nguyen Van Tuan affirmed that all the shortcomings of travel activities will be resolved. 

 
Foreign tourists visit Van Mieu ( the Temple of Literature) in Hanoi.
Foreign tourists visit Van Mieu (the Temple of Literature) in Hanoi.
The VNAT director stated that all foreign visitors are equally welcomed in Vietnam, including those from China, an important market of Vietnam’s tourism sector.
Tuan also pledged to work to improve the capacity of domestic travel businesses by flexible support measures, including the boosting of information provision in tourist destinations and the increase of Chinese speaking guides in those places. 
At the same time, Major General Le Xuan Vien, head of the Department of Immigration Management under the Public Security Ministry, said that 30 Republic of Korea nationals, more than 20 Russians, and 17 Chinese have been punished for providing tour guide services in Vietnam without permission. 
He vowed that the department will create the maximum favourable conditions for foreigners to enter and stay in Vietnam in line with the law. 
Deputy head of the Consular Department under the Foreign Ministry Nguyen Thi Huong Lan also confirmed that no discriminatory treatment has been applied to foreigners from any countries during the visa procedure processing.