Việt Nam's tourism sector has set a new record by welcoming nearly 1.62 million foreign tourists to the country in October, up by 34.3 percent over the same month last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The GSO also announced the number of foreign tourists to Việt Nam has reached nearly 14.5 million in the first 10 months of the year 2019, up 13 percent over the same period last year, of which Chinese and South Korean visitors accounted for nearly 56 percent.

Impressive growth was also recorded in the numbers of visitors from Asian countries. Of the total international visitors to Vietnamduring the past 10 months, 79.5 percent were from Asian countries, with the most impressive growth from Thailand at 47.7 percent.

The Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said the growth was impressive as it is significantly higher than the regional and international average growth. International visitors to Vietnam increased from 8 million in 2015 to 15.5 million in 2018 with a growth rate of 25% per year, ranking among 10 countries posting the highest growth in international tourist arrivals.

The tourism sector targets to welcome about 18 million foreign visitors and 85 million domestic tourists, making total revenue of about VND 700 trillion.

If this number is achieved, Việt Nam will be one year ahead of the target of receiving 17-20 million international visitors by 2020./.

VNA