Chinese visitors to Vietnam up 29.7 pct in 9 months

Vietnam welcomed 3.8 million Chinese visitors in the first nine months of this year, or 32.8 percent of the total international arrivals, posting a year-on-year surge of 29.7 percent, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said on Friday.

Meanwhile, Vietnam recorded a total of more than 11.6 million international arrivals, up 22.9 percent on-year, with the highest growth of 49.6 percent in the number of visitors from South Korea, followed by Finland, up 33.8 percent, and China, up 29.7 percent.

Of the foreign visitors between January and September, more than 9.4 million came to Vietnam by air, up 17.4 percent; over 2 million by road, up 62.1 percent; and 190,800 by sea, up 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, over 9 million visitors were from Asia, up 27.2 percent; more than 1.5 million from Europe, up 9.8 percent; 690,900 from the Americas, mainly from the United States, up 12.5 percent; 334,000 from Oceania, up 6.3 percent, and 31,100 from Africa, up 19.5 percent.

Vietnam plans to receive 16 to 17 million foreign visitors and 78 million domestic ones, and gain tourism revenues of $27.5 billion this year, said the administration.