Tourism revenue surge sharply in seven months

The ancient city of Hoi An is always an attractive tourist destination for domestic and foreign visitors. (Photo: VNA)

Revenue generated from tourism hit 11.9 trillion VND (509.85 million USD) in the first seven months of this year, a 2.7-fold rise year-on-year due to the strong recovery of tourism activities, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Some localities recorded a high increase in tourism revenue in July, including Khanh Hoa province with a rise of 858.4%, Can Tho city by 328.3%, Da Nang city by 284.8%, Hanoi by 216.8% and Ho Chi Minh City by 111.4%.

Revenue from accommodation and catering services in the first seven months of this year was estimated at 324.9 trillion VND, up 37.5% year-on-year.

The number of international visitors to Vietnam in July reached 352,600, an increase of 49% compared to the previous month and 47.2 times higher than the same period last year.

Vietnam welcomed 954,600 foreign visitors from January to July, 10 times higher than the figure in the same period last year.

However, the seven-month number still falls short of the pre-pandemic figure, representing a drop of 90.3% compared to 2019. Visitors coming by air accounted for 87.1% of the total, 13.5 times higher than the figure of the same period last year.

According to Deputy Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Pham Van Thuy, the country has set the target of serving about 65 million visitors, including 60 million domestic tourists and 5 million foreign ones. Vietnam has so far served about 71.8 million domestic visitors, exceeding the set target while the number of international visitors has not reached 1 million.

As the peak season for foreign tourists to Vietnam falls from September this year to April next year, the goal might be achieved or not depending on many factors, including the pandemic issue, he said.

Thuy went on to say that the tourism industry will continue to coordinate with relevant partners in other countries to conduct promotion programmes to realise the desired target./.