The number of foreign tourists to Vietnam in July reached more than 593,000, a 12.1% rise over a month earlier and a 5.1% increase from the same period last year, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).

This is considered as a positive sign for the Vietnamese tourism sector after a 13-month decrease in foreign tourists.

Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA)

Markets witnessing sharp rises in sending tourists to Vietnam are the Republic of Korea (35.5%), Finland (15.8%), Singapore (13.4%), Spain (6.4%), Italy (5.7%), the US (5.6%), Taiwan, China (3.8%) and Germany (1.4%).

However, declines from some markets resulted in a reduction in foreign arrivals in the first seven months of the year receiving only 4.39 million during the period, down 9.4% year on year, said GSO.

Of this, foreign arrivals coming by air accounted for 3.6 million, down 6.5% while those visiting by sea and road reached 31,800 (down 25.4%) and nearly 745,000 (down 20.6%), respectively.

Aiming to attract more foreigners from five Western European countries and Belarus, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched an action plan, in combination with Vietnam Airlines, to carry out travel demand stimulus promgramme./.

( Hoang Nguyen )