Foreign tourist arrivals rising fast

Hanoi, May 28 (VNA) - Vietnam has so far welcomed 3,748,109 foreign tourists in 2014, marking a year-on-year increase of 26.07 percent and fulfilling nearly 47 percent of its target of greeting eight million vacationers by the end of the year. Visitors from Hong Kong topped the list, with the highest rise of around 180 percent, followed by Germany (nearly 120 percent) and China (43.4 percent). During the period, Vietnam served 20.4 million domestic holiday-makers, rising by 6.7 percent year-on-year, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) reported on May 27. The tourism sector brought home over 109 billion VND (5.12 million USD) in revenue, registering a yearly rise of 28 percent. Earlier, VNAT Director Nguyen Van Tuan had working sessions with the embassies of Russia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia and Singapore to seek their cooperation and assistance in developing the sector. He confirmed that Vietnam’s tourism activities still take place normally, even at coastal tourist destinations, despite the ongoing tensions in the East Sea. The tourism sector has been and will continue taking the best measures to ensure safety, security and quality of services for tourists, Tuan said. Last year, Vietnam received 7,572,352 foreign tourists, a yearly rise of 10.6 percent. Vietnam is among the top 50 most attractive tourist destinations globally, according to movehub, a website frequented by people who want to move abroad. Welcoming approximately 6 million foreign visitors every year, Vietnam ranks 41st on the list of the most popular countries in the world to visit.-VNA