Tourists seen to enjoy the sea breeze on a beach on Phú Quốc Island which is dubbed the Pearl Island. Photo vietnamnet.vn

KIÊN GIANG – The island of Phú Quốc, dubbed the Pearl Island, off the coast of the Mekong Delta province of Kiên Giang received more than 636,000 tourists in July, showing a recovery, the provincial Tourism Department announced on Tuesday.

During the reviewed period, international arrivals numbered about 63,116, up 24 per cent year on year.

Total revenue from tourism activities reached more than VNĐ1.6 trillion (nearly US$64 million), an increase of 14.1 per cent against the same period in 2023.

Local authorities attributed the surge in the number of visitors to a promotion campaign advertising its image to international tourists.

Phú Quốc is among the three most popular international destinations for Korean tourists, according to a survey unveiled on July 15 by Korean news outlet Rankify Korea.

The newswire made use of an extensive data analysis programme to calculate the search volume of Google Trend Index and Naver in the first week of July, before then comparing it with the last week of June.

Earlier, Phú Quốc surpassed Bali to rank second on the list of the 25 best islands to visit around the world, reported Travel+Leisure of the United States.

Over 186,000 readers voted for the best islands on the planet as part of the magazine’s annual "World’s Best Awards" survey for 2024.

In addition, the administration of Kiên Giang has continuously promoted new international flights to the pearl island.

Low-cost Korean airline Eastar Jet recently launched a new route from Cheongju City to Phú Quốc City with a frequency of four flights per week.

Vietravel Airlines also started operating flights connecting the island with Taipei (Taiwan, China) with a frequency of three flights per week up to August 2025.

The number of international flights to Phú Quốc in July shot up 186 per cent from the same period last year. VNA/VNS