Foreign visitors in Hoi An ancient city (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA)– Close to 8.5 million foreigners visited Vietnam in the first half of thisyear, a rise of 7.5 percent year on year, reported the General StatisticsOffice (GSO) on June 28.
Visitors coming byroads surged by 24.9 percent and those arriving by air rose by 4.5 percent.
The tourism sector has set a target of welcoming 18 million foreign visitorsand serving 85 million local visitors this year.
Accordingly, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has launchedtourism promotion events in key markets since the beginning of this year.
In June, a delegation from the Administration joined the Beijing InternationalTourism Expo (BITE), China, aiming to maintain the flow of tourists from thislarge market of Vietnam’s tourism sector.
At BITE, the officials focused on advertizing sea, culture, and urban tourismand eco-tours.
In the meantime, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien ischairing a roadshow featuring Vietnamese tourism and a Vietnam culture-tourismfestival in the Republic of Korea.
Under the Politburo Resolution 08 on developing tourism into a spearheadeconomic sector, the tourism industry looks to attract 17-20 million foreignvisitors and cater for 82 million local tourists, contribute over 10 percent ofGDP, earn revenues of 35 billion USD, and generate 4 million jobs, including1.6 million direct jobs by 2020. -VNA
VNA
