Vietnam's tourism industry could achieve its goal of welcoming 12-13 million visitors by the end of this year, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Pham Van Thuy told a regular press conference of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Hanoi on October 9.

Foreign tourists in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

Thuy said in the first nine month, foreign arrivals in Vietnam exceeded the set target of 8 million by 11%.

Recently, Vietnam's more open visa policy has created favourable conditions to welcome foreign visitors. In addition, Vietnam is undergoing a cultural revival, with all of its historical sites and heritages becoming assets that could be used to create unique tourism products, making them attractive to international tourists. Traditional and nearby markets have also shown relatively good signs of recovery, he said.

According to the VNAT, Vietnam's tourism sector has recovered rapidly since the beginning of this year. Especially during July, August and September, the country welcomed over 1 million foreigners each.

In the past nine months, foreign and domestic arrivals reached 8.9 million and 93.5 million, respectively, bringing in a revenue of 536.5 trillion VND ($22 billion).

The Republic of Korea remained the biggest source of arrivals with roughly 2.6 million, or 29% of the total. In Europe, the top three markets were the UK with 187,000, France 155,000, and Germany 142,000.

The traditional Chinese market achieved a recovery rate of 28%.