Vietnam welcomed an unprecedentedly high number of foreign guests with over 1.58 million in February, representing a month-on-month growth of 5.8%.

An estimated 1.58 million foreigners visited Vietnam in February. (Photo: NDO/Dang Khoa)

The General Statistics Office (GSO) attributed the big surge to attractive festivals at the beginning of the year.

The number of foreign guests travelled by air grew 7.6%; by road increased by 27.2%; and by sea down 2.9%. The number of international arrivals saw a year-on-year growth of 10.9% in which the number of Asian guests picked up 13.3%; Europeans (down 6.1%); Americans (up 1.5%); Australians (down 5.3%); and Africans (up 21.8%).

In the first two months of 2019, Viet Nam served nearly 3.09 million foreign tourists, up 8% against the same period last year. Over 2.42 million people (up 5.5%) travelled by air. About 611,700 others (up 29.5) travelled by road. About 54,900 others travelled by sea.

Earlier, the tourism sector planned to attract 18 million foreign tourists in 2019.