According to the General Statistics Office, the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam in January is expected to increase by 16.6% month-on-month and 32.8% year-on-year, reaching 1.99 million, DTI News reported.
Those traveling by air went up by 38.9% and those traveling by sea increased by 231.5%. Asian tourists made up 77.4% of the total in January, 39.9% higher than last year. Chinese tourists increased 72.6%, Thailand 40.1%, South Korea 20.4%, Taiwan 19.3%, Japan 11.4% and Malaysia 5.5%.
European tourists increased by 11.5%, with Russian tourists being the highest number with an increase of 16.1%. They were followed by Germany at 9.6%, the UK at 8.7% and France with 5.3%.
Tourists from America rose by 19%, mainly coming for the United States. Vietnamese travel agencies took part in the International Tourism Fair in Spain in hopes of attracting more Spanish speaking visitors in the upcoming year.
Vietnam has seen sharp increases in tourism in recent years.