VOV.VN - Vietnam welcomed more than 8.8 million foreign arrivals during the first half of the year, marking an annual rise of 58.4% and up 4.1% compared to the same period from 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

In its report unveiled on June 29, the GSO said 7.4 million foreigners chose to travel to the country by air in the past six months, accounting for 83.8% of the total number of foreign tourists.

Around 1.26 million international tourists came by road, making up 14.3% of the total, while the remaining 140,000 came by sea, equal to 1.9% of the overall total.

Asia remained the largest Vietnamese tourist market. In particular, the Republic of Korea took the top position with 2.28 million visitors, followed by China with nearly 1.9 million visitors. Other places to feature in the Top 10 largest tourist market were Taiwan (China), Japan, the United States, Australia, India, Australia, Malaysia, and Cambodia.

Revenue from accommodation and catering services between January and June reached VND356 trillion.

Throughout the reviewed period, earnings from tourism services surged by 37.1% year on year to VND29.4 trillion. Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho, and Hanoi were the largest earners.

In June alone, Vietnam received 1.25 million international arrivals, down by 10% from May and up 28.1% compared to the same period last year. The Republic of Korea sent the largest number of foreign tourists to the country with 330,000 arrivals, followed by China with 286,000 arrivals.

The number of international visitors has increased strongly thanks to the effectiveness of favourable visa policies along with the tourism promotion stimulus programme which has been put in place.

The GSO anticipates that future growth momentum will be maintained over the coming months towards meeting the set goal of welcoming 18 million foreign tourists by the end of the year.