Foreign arrivals increase sharply in June

Vietnam welcomed more than 567,000 foreign visitors in June, a year-on-year increase of 29.9%, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Russia is one of Vietnam’s top ten tourism markets, achieving a growth rate of 84.4% in the past month.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore took the lead, with the number of its visitors to Vietnam rising 40.6%, followed by Laos (36.9%), Malaysia (31.9%) and Cambodia (21.6%).

Among East European countries, Norway topped the list, with its arrivals surging 56.7%, and Finland came in second with 46.9%.

Hong Kong and the US also achieved impressive growth rates of 38.2% and 31.6% respectively.

Vietnam has received more than 3.54 million foreign visitors in the first half of this year, up 2.6% from a year earlier.

Despite the three-year record low growth, the administration is still optimistic about the recovery of the tourism market in the coming months following a 1.4% fall in the first five months of the year.

According to international tour operators, budget tours are preferable in the face of the global economic recession and fierce competition among travel companies