More than 2.86 million foreigners was estimated to visit Vietnam in January and February, up 29.7 percent from the same period in 2017.

According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, Asian visitors made up the lion’s share of the number, at over 2.12 million people, increasing 35.8 percent year on year. The number of Chinese visitors, which accounted for 30 percent of the total tourist arrivals in Vietnam during the period, grew by 38.5 percent annually.

The numbers of tourist arrivals by air, road, and sea during the two-month period recorded respective annual increases of 26.3, 58.4, and 3.5 percent.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said it aims to serve between 15 and 17 million foreigners and 78 million domestic travellers this year, with total revenue expected to hit 620 trillion VND (27.28 billion USD), up 21.35 percent on year.

Vu The Binh, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, said Northeast Asia, including China, the Republic of Korea (RoK), Japan, Taiwan (China), will continue to be the major sources of tourists to Vietnam. Last year, China and the RoK sent 4 and 2.4 million visitors to Vietnam.

With a growth of 30 percent in tourism in 2017, Vietnam for the first time came on the list of countries with fastest tourism growth speed in the world, ranking at the 6th place. -VNA