Vietnam welcomes some 2.7 million international tourists in first quarter

In March alone, the number of international tourists was estimated at 895,400, a 4% decrease from the previous month and a 21.5-fold rise against the same period last year.

Vietnam is an ideal destination for international tourists. (Photo: VNA)

Specifically, tourists arriving by air reached over 2.4 million, accounting for 89.8% of the total number of international tourists to the country and a 29.4-fold increase year on year; while those by road posted 241,900, accounting for 9% and a 28-fold increase and the remaining tourists arriving by sea.

The department estimated revenue from accommodation and catering services in the three months to hit 161 trillion VND (6.85 billion USD). Meanwhile, thanks to exciting cultural and tourism activities in the first months of the year across localities, travel businesses earned about 6.8 trillion VND, a 2.2-fold increase from last year.

In the three months, revenue of many localities increased sharply compared to the same period last year, such as: Da Nang by 4.9 times; Hanoi 2.7 times; Hai Phong 2.5 times; Kien Giang 2.2 times; HCMC 84.5%; and Quang Ninh 59.4%.

According to many experts, the number of international visitors will show better signs in the coming months because the Chinese tourist market has begun to operate again.

Immediately after Vietnam was on a list of countries that China will conduct a pilot program of reopening the group tours from March 15, many tourism promotion activities between Vietnam and China were organized on a large scale./.