Int'l arrivals to Vietnam rise 7 pct in Q1

HANOI, March 29 (Xinhua) -- VIETNAM hosted 4.5 million international arrivals, up 7 percent against the same period last year, the VIETNAM National Administration of Tourism said on Friday.

The highest growth of 49.3 percent in the number of visitors are from Thailand, followed by the Philippines, up 24.8 percent, and South Korea, up 24.1 percent,

Between January and March, roughly 3.4 million visitors are from Asia, up 7.5 percent; 685,200 from Europe, up 6.1 percent; 293,500 from the Americas, mainly from the United States, up 6.3 percent; 119,300 from Oceania, up 0.2 percent, and 11,700 from Africa, up 5.7 percent.

In the period, VIETNAM welcomed roughly 1.3 million Chinese visitors, or nearly 28.5 percent of the total international arrivals, said the administration.

VIETNAM, which hosted roughly 15.5 million international arrivals, including nearly 5 million Chinese visitors last year, is striving to receive some 18 million foreign visitors and 85 million domestic ones this year.