HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam maintained growth in the number of foreign investors to the nation in the first seven months of this year, according to the General Statistics Office.

The number of foreign visitors to Việt Nam in the first seven months of this year rose 25.4 per cent year-on-year to 9 million.

Of this number, Việt Nam received nearly 7 million visitors from Asia.

The GSO reported that in July, international visitors to Việt Nam reached 1.19 million, up 0.5 per cent from the previous month.

In the first seven months, arrivals by air reached 7.36 million visitors, increasing by 20.2 per cent; and by land, 1.54 million visitors, up by 63.3 per cent. Meanwhile, visitors by sea decreased slightly by 0.2 per cent with 0.18 million visitors.

Regarding the market, visitors from Asia totalled 6.99 million people in the first seven months, accounting for 77 per cent of the total number of tourists to the country, up 30.4 per cent over the same period last year.

During this period, Việt Nam hosted about 3 million visitors from mainland China, up 34.1 per cent year-on-year; about 2 million visitors from South Korea, up 56.1 per cent; and 464,000 visitors from Japan, up 6.2 per cent. Following were tourists from Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. Meanwhile, the number of visitors from Laos dropped by 8.4 per cent to 76,000 compared with the same period last year.

European visitors to Việt Nam rose 10.4 per cent to 1.23 million over the same period last year, including 373,000 visitors from Russia.

Visitors from five Western European markets enjoy visa exemptions of up to 15 days, including the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Of which, visitors increased 7.9 per cent from the UK; 9.4 per cent from Germany; 12 per cent from France and 16.6 per cent from Italy.

Visitors from the Americas reached 570,000, up 13 per cent over the same period last year, including 433,000 visitors from the US, up 15 per cent.

General Director of the Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism Nguyễn Văn Tuấn said by the end of the year, the tourism industry would focus on maintaining the growth of the number of tourists and total revenue from tourists.

Việt Nam expects to receive a total of 16 million international visitors and 80 million domestic visitors this year.

In addition, the tourism sector would promote state management of the tourism industry, administrative reform and smart travel applications. It would also actively enhance promotion activities in foreign markets, attracting more visitors in key markets. — VNS