The month of January saw continued strong growth in the number of Chinese tourists to the city of Nha Trang in the central province of Khanh Hoa, reports the municipal department of tourism.

Out of a total of 162,000 visitors to the City for the month, the statistics of the department showed that 102,000 of them were from China.   

Despite the purported economic benefits, the increased presence of Chinese tourists has been testing the traditional hospitality of the Vietnamese towards their northern neighbours.

In Nha Trang, the government last year ordered the deportation of 66 Chinese nationals, mostly tour guides operating illegally in the City, for spreading wrong information about the history of Vietnam.

The beaches in Nha Trang until recently were pretty much exclusively a Russian and Western tourist retreat. However, over the past year Chinese tourism has exploded by nearly fivefold.

The increased numbers of Chinese tourists continue to test Vietnamese hospitality and has resulted in frequent clashes with the local population, report department officials.

VOV