Tourists enjoy sailing in Trang An Landscape Complex in northern Ninh Binh province. (Photo: VNA)

The number of international visitors increased by 68.3% over the same period in 2023, statistics showed. 

In April alone, the country welcomed over 1.5 million foreign visitors. In particular, the number of holidaymakers to Vietnam in the four months was 3.9% higher than the pre-COVID-19 period, indicating positive recovery and development of the tourism sector, said the VNAT under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

The Republic of Korea remained the largest foreign tourist source with 1.6 million arrivals, accounting for 25.8% of the total international arrivals in Vietnam. It was followed by China, Taiwan (China), the US and Japan.

The number of Asians coming to Vietnam soared 77.2% year on year, making Asia the leading regional source of visitors. In particular, tourists from large markets in Northeast Asia, including China, the RoK, and Japan, was the main growth driver. Besides, positive growth was also recorded in the numbers of visitors from Southeast Asian markets like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

Tourists from Europe continued to rise strongly thanks to the favourable visa policy applied since August 15, 2023, including such main markets as the UK (35.2%), France (41.7%), Germany (36.9%), Italy (77.4%), Spain (48.5%), and Russia (74%).

The national tourism website, https://vietnam.travel, and social networking pages of the VNAT have kept promoting destinations, tourism products, and outstanding events of the country, including green tourism on Co To island of northern Quang Ninh province, cuisine tours in the northernmost province of Ha Giang, small and peaceful villages, or An Bang and My Khe beaches in the central city of Da Nang which are among the 10 most beautiful beaches named by TripAdvisor.

In addition, an online exhibition featuring the Trang An Landscape Complex in northern Ninh Binh province was launched on Google Arts & Culture on April 18 by the complex's management board with support from Google Arts & Culture and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, providing viewers with beautiful images on one of the most attractive destinations in Vietnam.

March 2024 data from similarweb.com showed that the website https://vietnam.travel ranked 132,676th in the world, surpassing the travel websites of Thailand (136,108th), the Philippines (808,295th), and Malaysia (881,886th). This result reflected effective tourism marketing and promotion, helping to attract more international visitors to Vietnam, the VNAT added./.VNA