Tran Chi Cuong, deputy director of the municipal Tourism Department, told the Daily that the city has become a popular destination for tourists from China and South Korea.

The department plans to open a Danang tourism office in China to help bring in more tourists from the neighboring country, Cuong said.

Data of the department shows that more than 1.7 million tourists came to the city in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year rise of 34.7%. Foreign arrivals alone rose by a whopping 58.9% against the year-ago period to 820,000.

The city’s January-March tourism revenue grew a hefty 58.7% year-on-year to roughly VND6 trillion (US$263 million).

Around 500,000 tourists arrived in the city by air in quarter one, up 42.2% over the same period last year. In addition, the city welcomed 49 cruise ships with about 60,000 tourists onboard.

The department said the city is aiming for around 7.47 million tourists this year, including nearly three million from abroad.

Therefore, the department will organize promotion programs at home and abroad, such as the 2018 Vietnam Festival in Tokyo, Japan in May, and the International Travel Expo HCMC 2018 in September, according to Cuong.

“Events such as the Danang International Fireworks Festival 2018, a Danang sea tourism program, and the Danang Summer Destination 2018 are expected to attract a considerable number of tourists.”

SGT