Chinese tourists to Vietnam surge in January-May

HANOI - Vietnam received nearly 2.2 million Chinese visitors between January and May, or 32.1 percent of the total international arrivals, recording a year-on-year increase of 37 percent, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Vietnam received a total of more than 6.7 million international arrivals, up 27.6 percent year-on-year, with the highest growth of 62.1 percent in the number of visitors from South Korea, followed by Finland, up 39.1 percent, and China, up 37 percent.

Of the foreign visitors in the first five months of this year, nearly 5.4 million came to Vietnam by air, up 23.5 percent; roughly 1.2 million by road, up 59.9 percent; and 157,600 by sea, down 6.1 percent.

Meanwhile, nearly 5.1 million visitors were from Asia, up 33.3 percent; 976,900 from Europe, up 11.8 percent; 421,100 from the Americas, mainly from the United States, up 13.8 percent; 193,200 from Oceania, up 12.1 percent, and 18,000 from Africa, up 20.9 percent.

Vietnam plans to receive 16-17 million foreign visitors and 78 million domestic ones, and gain tourism revenues of $27.5 billion in 2018, said the administration.