HCM City — In August, normally a low tourist period, there were over 899,000 foreign arrivals, a 34.4 per cent increase from a year ago, according to the Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

This took the number of visitors to Việt Nam in January-August to more than 6.45 million, a whopping 25.4 per cent rise year-on-year.

Lâm Thị Ánh Nguyên, media manager of Rex Hotel Saigon, said her hotel, situated in downtown HCM City, saw occupancy rates of 80-90 per cent last month.

After waiving visas for citizens of the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy earlier this year, the Government has assigned the ministries of public security and foreign affairs to consider issuing electronic visas from July next year. — VNS