The number of foreign tourists to Vietnam rebounded in July after two consecutive months of decrease, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The office announced on July 29 that June saw a nearly 20 percent decrease on a monthly basis while the figure for May dropped 9.62 percent compared to the previous month. However, the number in July picked up 4.6 percent to 564,736 overseas visitors.

Most of the markets registered growth with Hong Kong posting the highest rise of 111.3 percent, followed by Germany, 99.4 percent, and Russia, 27 percent.

Summing up the first 7 months of this year, the country has welcomed over 4, 85 million foreign tourists, a year-on-year rise of 15.6 percent.

The tourism sector will strive to serve 8 million foreign and 37.5 million domestic tourists this year, grossing 240 billion VND (11.2 million USD) in revenue.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has also proposed the Prime Minister to extend the visa exemption duration from 15 days to 30 days for Russian tourists.

Last year, Vietnam received more than 7.57 million foreign visitors, a year-on-year increase of 10.6 percent.-VNA