Photo for illustration. (Source: vietnamnet.vn)
This month also saw the fastest tourism growth in 2019.
Also according to statistics, the number of foreigners to the country totaled nearly 14.5 million in the Jan-Oct period, a year-on-year rise of 13%. Of these, travelers from China and the Republic of Korea made up nearly 56%.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said that this is impressive growth, much higher than the average rate of the world and the region. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported that international tourist arrivals grew 4% in the first half of 2019. Growth was led by the Middle East (8%) and Asia and the Pacific (6%), in which Southeast Asia increased 5%.
The 10-month growth was largely attributed to the efforts of the industry from July to October with an increase of nearly 22% compared to the same period past year.
Over the past 10 months, foreigners from key markets saw growth, especially those from Asia, as it accounted for 79.5% of the total, a year-on-year rise of 15.2%.
Specifically, the Chinese market witnessed 9.4% growth while three major markets in northeastern Asia, including the Republic of Korea, Japan and Taiwan (China), also enjoyed very rapid growth with 22.1%, 15% and 29.5%, respectively.
The group of important markets in Southeast Asia has grown impressively. Of this, Thailand is the highlight as it continued maintaining a record growth with 47.7%, followed by Indonesia 20.3%, the Philippines 19.5% and Malaysia 3.6%. Singapore surpassed France to ranks 11th among the markets sending the most tourists to Vietnam.
European tourists soared by 5.5% compared to the same period last year with growth seen in most markets, including Russia 4.8%, the UK 5.8% and France 1.7%./.