Vietnam scores tourism record

Vietnam National Administration of Tourism estimates the country welcomed 593,408 international travellers in December, 2011, representing an increase of 31.99% compared to 449,570 visits during the same month in 2010.

Over the entire year tourism improved 19.09% giving the country a record 6,014,032 visits. The figure was provisional calculated on estimates during December.

For the month of December, Thailand, in 10th place, supplied 17,940 visits decreasing 16.40% from 21,459 visits in December 2010 when ranked in eighth place.

Throughout the year, Thailand’s outbound market supplied 181,820 visits down 18.41% from 222,839 visits in 2010.

China continued to grow in December with 139,797 visits representing an improvement of 93.41% from 72,279 visits during the same month in 2010 following by South Korea, Japan, the United States, Cambodia and Taiwan.

Neighbouring Cambodia gained fifth place supplying 41,781 visits and a remarkable increase of 100.02% from 20,839 visits.

All of the top markets are in Asia/Pacific region with the exception of the United States and France.

For January to December, international travellers showed an improvement of 19.09% from 6,014,032 visits compared to 5,049,855 visits over the same period in 2010.

China led the field with 1,416,804 visits improving 56.50% from 905,360 visits during the same period in 2010.

South Korea followed in second place with 536,408 visits, up 8.17% from 495,902 visits. Japan was third with 481,519 visits up 8.92% from 442,089 visits.

The United States, in fourth place, supplied 439,872 visits slightly growing 2.06% against 430,993 visits.

Cambodia, in fifth place, supported 423,440 visits improving 66.35% from 254,553 visits.

The bulk of arrivals in December (493,908) passed through the two main aviation gateways Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City.

Overall, 5,031,586 foreign tourists passed these main aviation gateways.

Of the total, 3,651,299 international travellers visited Vietnam for recreational purposes up 17.40% from 3,110,415 trips in 2010.

Business trips declined 2.01% to 1,003,005 trips from 1,023,615 trips, while visiting relatives improved 75.46% to 1,007,267 trips from 574,082 trips.

VNAT updated its data on website, late last week, sourced from the government statistics office.

Source - ttrweekly