HANOI, 2 February 2017: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism estimates the country welcomed 1,007,238 international visitors in January representing an increase of 23.6% over the same month last year.

Vietnam is now recognised as a fast emerging market in ASEAN for both inbound and outbound travel.

China was the top supply market with 247,621 visits improving 67.9%. Other top performers were South Korea, the United States, Japan and Russia.

Thailand’s outbound travel market ranked ninth, supplying 29,015 visits up 16.7% over the same month last year.

Neighbouring Cambodia slipped off the top 10 posting 18,012 visits, but still growing 34.9%, while Laos recorded 10,594 visits up 41.7%.

All of the country’s top markets are in the Asia/Pacific region with the exception of the US (third), Russia (fifth) and the UK (10th).

The bulk of arrivals in January (834,975) passed through the two main aviation gateways, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, although Danang is emerging as the third most important gateway and likely to attract more regional airlines this year.

VNAT updated its data on its website, Wednesday, sourced from the government statistics office.

Vietnam’s tourism sector is targeting 11.5 million international arrivals and 66 million domestic holidaymakers in 2017, that will generate an estimated USD20.3 billion.

By 2020, the country forecasts 17 to 20 million international visits and 82 million domestic trips that will contribute and estimated 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Revenue from tourism will reach USD35 billion.

Last year, the country recorded 10,012,735 international tourist arrivals up 26.0% over 2015.

Source: http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2017/02/vietnam-on-track-for-tourism-boom/