Vietnam welcomed more than 5.54 million foreign visitors in the first four months of 2018, a year-on-year rise of 29.5 percent, according to the General Statistics Office.

Terrace field in Sa Pa 

The number of tourist arrivals from Asian countries went up by 36 percent from the same period last year with most of the major markets reporting growth such as the Republic of Korea (up 67.3 percent), China (39.7 percent), Malaysia (16.3 percent), China’s Taiwan (14.3 percent), Thailand (9.2 percent), Singapore (8 percent) and Japan (7 percent).

The number of European visitors rose by 12.9 percent, with remarkable growth seen in Italy (19.7 percent), Russia (13.4 percent), the UK (11.1 percent), France (8.6 percent) and Germany (8 percent).

Vietnam also saw a rise of holidaymakers from Africa (22.5 percent), Americas (13.4 percent), and Oceania (12.6 percent).

In April alone, Vietnam greeted over 1.34 million international vacationers, up 25.2 percent due to various activities in the month such as the Vietnam International Travel Mart and Vietnam’s Ethnic Culture Day in Hanoi, the tourism festival in Ho Chi Minh City, the Mon Asian Food Festival in Hanoi and Quang Ninh province, and the opening ceremony of the National Tourism Year 2018 in Quang Ninh

Vietnam marked a record of 12.9 million foreign visitors in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 29.1 percent. The country aims to serve more than 15.5 million foreigners in 2018.

Popular travel site Rough Guides ranked Vietnam among the 20 most beautiful countries in the world in 2017. The site sings the praises of the astonishing rock formations in the UNESCO world heritage site Ha Long Bay and the endless beauty of terraced rice fields in the mystical mountain town of Sa Pa.

Vietnam is also known for its stunning beaches, islands and cave systems including the world’s largest cave Son Doong in central Quang Binh province.-VNA