International arrivals to Vietnam hike in five months

Vietnam saw more than 365,300 international arrivals in the first five months of this year, a 4.5-fold increase from the same period last year, the General Statistics Office said Tuesday.

In the period, visitors entering the country by air accounted for around 87.8 percent of the total.

Over the five months, approximately 230,988 foreign visitors to Vietnam were from Asia, tripling the figure of the same period last year.

The number of tourists from Europe, America and Oceania also saw hikes of about 11 times, 23 times and 30 times respectively from the same period last year.

Vietnam fully reopened its borders to international visitors on March 15 as part of its efforts to revive the country’s tourism and economy after nearly two years of interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vietnam received a record number of over 18 million international arrivals in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic broke out, according to the office.

In 2020 and 2021, the number of international arrivals to Vietnam plunged 78.7 percent and 95.9 percent respectively.

The country targeted to serve over 5 million overseas tourists in 2022, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.