International arrivals in Vietnam surge over 12-fold year on year

Illustrative image (Source: thanhnien.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam haswelcomed nearly 4.6 million international arrivals in the first five months of2023, soaring 12.6-fold from the same period last year, the General StatisticsOffice (GSO) said on May 29.

Of the international arrivals, 88% cameto the country by air, 10.9% by road, and 1.1% by sea.

Revenue from tourism services went up89.4% while earnings from accommodation and restaurant services rose 22.1%, theGSO said, attributing the increases partly to many holidays during the fivemonths.

However, the number of foreignvisitors in May fell 6.9% from the previous month.

Foreign visitors to Hoi An city, a famous destination in the central province of Quang Nam (Photo: VNA)

Recently, Vietnamese tourism hascontinually been honoured by foreign media, helping enhance its attractivenessto international travellers.

Notably, Cat Ba of Ha Phong city has been given the second place among the 10most spectacular beaches in Asia by Microsoft Travel; Ninh Binh province named among the world's top 10 best hiddenfamily vacation spots to visit in 2023 by Canada’s The Travel magazine; and the  North-South, or Thong Nhat (Reunification), railway listed one of the world’s mostamazing train journeys by the Australian version of renowned travel guide bookpublisher Lonely Planet.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese fried spring rolls (known as “nem ran” in the north and“cha gio” in the south in Vietnam) and summer rolls (“goi cuon”) are on thelist of 50 most popular appetizers in the worldcompiled by international food magazine Taste Atlas.

In May, Prime Minister Pham MinhChinh signed off the Government’s Resolution No 82/NQ-CP on the main tasks andmeasures for accelerating effective and sustainable tourism recovery anddevelopment. It specified many groups of measures for developing tourism into akey economic sector so as to turn Vietnam into one of the 30 countries with thehighest tourism competitiveness./.

VNA