South Korean tourists, the first foreign arrivals to visit resort island Phú Quốc in Kiên Giang Province after nearly two years, stay at Vinpearl Resort & Spa Phú Quốc. — VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Đạt

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam welcomed over 15,000 foreign tourists in November, up 42.4 per cent from October, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The rise is attributed to the Government’s decision to allow a pilot programme to welcome back international tourists who join package tours via either charter flights or international commercial flights to designated places and tourism facilities in Phú Quốc (Kiên Giang), Khánh Hoà, Quảng Nam, Đà Nẵng and Quảng Ninh.

In the first 11 months of this year, the number of foreign tourist arrivals to Việt Nam was 140,100, down 96.3 per cent year-on-year.

Of the total, the number of visitors arriving by air accounted for 68.9 per cent, down 96.9 per cent; by road accounted for 30.7 per cent, down 92.9 per cent, and by sea made up 0.4 per cent, down 99.7 per cent.

General Director of the Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyễn Trùng Khánh said the event to welcome the first group of international holidaymakers to Việt Nam this month was an important step to gradually revive the tourism sector towards full reopening and economic development, after nearly two years of border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to enhance the effectiveness of the “Live fully in Việt Nam” campaign, VNAT is actively implementing activities to promote and stimulate tourism recovery, including promoting images, video clips and articles on both domestic and international communication channels. — VNS