The percentage of foreign tourists returning to Vietnam, home to five tangible world heritage sites, has hit nearly 35 per cent of the total number of foreign visitors, proving the improved attractiveness of the country’s tourism activities, according to the General Statistics Office’s survey on "Tourist expenses in 2005"
Of the figure, 7.6 percent are overseas Vietnamese who have returned twice.
The survey also revealed the growing percentage of tourists coming to the sunny and warm Southeastern Asian nation for first time at over 65 percent of the total number of international tourists to the country, second timers stand at 21 percent, and 14 percent are on their third visit.
The duration of foreign visitors' stay also markedly lengthened, reaching 13.8 days/person on average, compared with 10.6 days in 2003.
Besides a strong inflow of Asian tourists into Vietnam, representing 41 percent of the total, the number of tourists from European and American countries has been increasing and they make up 32 percent and 14 percent of the total, respectively.
Pham Tu, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), described the increasing number of repeat visits by foreign tourists despite the country’s geographic distance from European countries and lack of convenient air travel as a positive sign for its young tourism sector.
About 65 percent of tourists found an appetite for Vietnamese foods and 42 percent were satisfied with cultural, sports and entertainment services, the survey said.
According to Hai Yen, an expert from the VNAT, the increase of returns by foreign visitors proves that the tourism sector is pursuing a sustainable trend. Ms. Yen, however, warned that sustainability could easily be hampered due to unplanned and temporary tourism development in localities.
Vietnam’s tourism sector still has lots of things to do to maintain the high return rate and to lure more visitors to the country in the upcoming time, Yen noted.
In the first five months of this year, Vietnam welcomed 1.58 million foreign arrivals, up 12 percent on-year. The country has set a target to host 3.9 million foreign arrivals among 20.9 million tourists this year.
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