A total of 664,985 foreigners traveled to Vietnam in August, rising 12 percent from July and 7.5 percent year on year.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) , international arrivals are expected to grow in the following months as peak season approaches. High-budget tourists, particularly from the US and Canada, consider Vietnam an attractive autumn destination.
The sector is launching a range of promotion packages targeting visitors from Belarus and five Western European countries.
Accordingly, citizens of the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Belarus, all of whom recently gained a unilateral visa exemption for stays lasting no longer than 15 days, now have access to a range of good quality tourism services with prices reduced up to 30 percent. The services include inter-country tours such as Indochina tours across Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Within the first 8 months of 2015, Vietnam welcomed five million international arrivals, representing a year-on-year 7.5 percent reduction, while domestic tourists reached 45.8 million.
Despite the quantity reduction, the sector posted a revenue exceeding 235.58 trillion VND (10.5 billion USD), up 2.7 percent from 2014.
Foreign visitors to Vietnam from 12 nations, including the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Finland, were on the rise while the rest experienced a downward spiral during the period.-VNA
Foreign arrivals down, revenue rises
Foreign arrivals in Vietnam slid 11.3 percent in the first half of this year to reach over 3.8 million due to the looming MERS-CoV threat and downfall from the struggling Russian market.