Vietnam Estimated to Attract over 5M Int’l Tourists in 2010: GSO
Vietnam is estimated to have welcomed 5.049 million foreign visitors and earned revenues of nearly $5 billion this year, up 34.8% and 37% on year, respectively, said the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The year 2010 is the first year that Vietnam set a record growth of foreign tourists with an increase of 1.2 million people from 2009. The year also sees the highest number of foreign visitors to the country over the past 20 years.
China, South Korea, Japan and the U.S. remain the largest markets of the local tourism industry in 2010 with respective increases of 74.5%; 37.7%; 24% and 6.9%, the GSO added.
In December, the Southeast Asia country is estimated to have received 449,600 foreign arrivals, up 5% on month and 19% on year.
Of the total visitors, more than 3.1 million have come for tourism; 1.023 million for business; 574,100 for visiting relatives and 341,700 for other purposes.
The increase is possibly attributed to global economy recovery, rising tourism demand and effective promotion activities.
Vietnam aims to attract 5.5 million foreign travelers arrivals next year, up 10% on year and earn tourism revenues of VND110 billion ($5.64 billion).
The tourism industry is estimated to contribute 3.9% or VND73.8 trillion ($3.78 billion) to the national GDP this year and 13.1% or VND738.6 trillion (nearly $33 billion) in 2020. (GSO)
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