Foreign arrivals surge nearly 7-fold in first six months

However, the number still falls short of pre-pandemic figures – a drop of 92.9 percent compared to 2019.

Visitors coming by air account for 87 percent of the total and 9.4 times that of the same period last year, whereas the number of travellers via road routes accounts for 13 percent of the total (up 2.4 times), and 0.02 percent by sea (a decrease of 42.6 percent).

Foreign tourists from Singapore arrived in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa (Photo: VNA/VNS)

In June alone, Vietnam welcomed nearly 237,000 foreign arrivals, up 36.8 percent compared to the previous month and 32.9 times that of the same period last year.

Statistics show that the revenue from accommodation and catering services surged by 20.9 percent in the first six months and 80 percent in June over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, travel service revenue surged by 94.4 percent over the same period last year thanks to the strong recovery of tourism activities, especially the boom of domestic tourism in the second quarter.

Some localities recording high revenues were the south-central coastal province of Khanh Hoa (up 627.8 percent); the Mekong Delta province of Can Tho (183.9 percent), the capital city Hanoi (129.3 percent); and two central localities Da Nang (98.5 percent) and Quang Nam (67.8 percent).

Notably, Hanoi served 8.61 million in the reviewed period, earning VND25.2 trillion (US$1.08 billion), more than three times higher than the figure in the first six months of 2021. There were about 211,300 foreign tourists.

The tourism sector of Ho Chi Minh City reported that the city welcomed 11 million domestic holiday-makers and 478,000 foreigners in the period, up 43.1 percent and 100 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Vietnam has completely reopened international tourism since mid-March, with no quarantine, COVID-19 vaccine certificates, COVID-19 test results, or medical declaration forms required of visitors.

Source: VNS