Hanoi - Vietnam received 2.1 million international visitors in the first six months of this year, up by 15 per cent, establishing the country as one of Asia's up-and-coming tourism markets. Vietnam expects 4.3 million arrivals by the end of this year. compared with 3.6 million last year, according to Pham Tu, vice chairman of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
"The number of foreign tourists visiting Vietnam has been increasing rapidly," Tu said. "Foreign visitors coming to Vietnam now stay for a longer period of time and spend more money than before. "
While the total is less than one-third of Thailand's 13.9 million tourist arrivals last year, Vietnam has managed to double the number of tourists since 2000.
Visitors from Russia represented the highest annual growth of 65.4 per cent, followed by those from Italy, Malaysia and Spain, which grew by more than 50 per cent in the period.
The group of visitors coming from China still accounts for the highest proportion, 13 per cent or 275,700 people, although it saw a year-on-year decline of 11.4 per cent during the first half of 2007.
Visitors from South Korea make up 12.4 per cent, followed by the United States with 9.9 per cent, Japan with 9.83 per cent and Taiwan with 7.2 per cent.
