Final months of the year mark the international tourist season on the Phú Quốc Island. — Photo nld.com.vn

KIÊN GIANG — In the first nine months of the year, Phú Quốc welcomed over 540,000 international visitors, tripling the figure from the same period in 2022.

This number is expected to continue growing, as the final months of the year mark the international tourist season on the "pearl island".

On October 27, an A350-900 flight with the code 2W8623 brought 430 tourists from the Czech Republic to land at Phú Quốc International Airport in Kiên Giang Province.

This marked the first time Phú Quốc received a chartered flight directly from the capital of Prague of the Czech Republic.

It is planned that until April 2024, this route will continue to bring international visitors to the island with a frequency of one flight per week.

These tourists will stay in Phú Quốc for one to two weeks to explore the "world's top attractive natural island," as voted by the World Travel Awards (WTA).

Earlier, three chartered flights on October 23, 24, and 25 brought over 600 tourists from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to Phú Quốc.

In just the last week of October 2023, the city welcomed over 1,000 international visitors on chartered flights after international routes to Phú Quốc were reconnected.

According to Phú Quốc International Airport, the airport currently operates domestic routes including to and from Hà Nội, HCM City, Hải Phòng, Cần Thơ, Đà Nẵng and Cam Ranh in Khánh Hòa.

Other international flights included Incheon from South Korea with 14 flights per week, Bangkok in Thailand with four flights per week, Hong Kong (China) with three flights per week, Shanghai (China) with one flight per week, Kuala Lumpur from Malaysia with four flights per week, Almaty from Kazakhstan with one flight per week, Taraz from Kazakhstan with two flights per week and Prague from the Czech Republic with one flight per week.

Recently, Phú Quốc tourism has been struggling due to the absence of domestic visitors, but the "pearl island" is still considered a new global destination.

This is underscored by its consistent high rankings in numerous polls.

It was recognised as the "World's Top Attractive Natural Island" by the World Travel Awards, listed among the 10 most beloved resort islands in Asia by Condé Nast Traveller magazine, ranked among the top 23 best islands in the world by Travel + Leisure, and chosen as one of the most beautiful islands in Asia for two consecutive years (2022 and 2023) by readers of Condé Nast Traveler. — VNS