Hanoi: The number of foreign arrivals to Vietnam in the first month of 2024 reached over 1.5 million, the highest ever recorded for a month since the country fully reopened all tourism activities in March 2022, according to Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT).

The figure represented an increase of 10.3% compared to previous month and a 73.6% hike compared to the same period last year.

This is a positive signal for Vietnam’s tourism industry, creating motivation for the sector to achieve the goals of receiving 17-18 million international visitors, serving 110 million domestic tourists and earning about 840 trillion VND (34.3 billion USD) in tourism revenue in 2024.

The Republic of Korea (RoK) remained the largest source market for Vietnam tourism in January with 417,576 visitors, accounting for 27.6% of the total. It was followed by China and Taiwan (China). Meanwhile, UK, France, Germany and Russia sent the largest numbers of European tourists to Vietnam.

According to the VNAT, January witnessed
remarkable growth in European markets that enjoy unilateral visa exemption. It reflected the positive impact of a policy on extending the temporary stay period for citizens from countries unilaterally exempted from visa from 15 to 45 days.

Vietnam had 25 destinations and establishments named in different categories of the ASEAN Tourism Awards at a ceremony held as part of the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2024 in Laos on January 26.

They were honoured for six categories, namely ASEAN Green Hotel, ASEAN Clean Tourist City, ASEAN MICE Venue Award for Meeting Room, ASEAN MICE Venue Award for Exhibition Venue, ASEAN MICE Venue Award for Event Venue, and ASEAN Sustainable Tourism Award for Gastronomy Tourism theme./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency