Vietnam welcomed around 410,000 foreign tourists in July, bringing the total number of foreign visitors to the country in the first seven months of the country to more than 2.9 million, a year-on-year rise of almost 35%.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said the number of foreigners coming to Vietnam for work increased by 46%, followed by those for vacation, up by more than 44%.

The number of foreign tourists from China recorded an impressive growth of 95.4%; followed by Cambodia, up 93%, Thailand, up 32% and the Republic of Korea (RoK), up over 31%.

Ho Chi Minh City attracted over 1.6 million tourists, making it the leading locality for foreign tourists in the first seven months of the year, a year-on-year rise of 13%.

The increase in foreign holidaymakers to Vietnam was attributed to the worldwide economic recovery that helped boost the demand for tourism, said experts.

Vietnam has organised tourism promotion programmes and cultural exchanges in China, Japan, the RoK and Cambodia in addition to traveling promotions in Australia, Norway and West European countries, they added.

The nation hopes to reach its target of 4.5-4.6 million foreign tourists this year, a year-on-year increase of more than 17%.

Travel agencies will continue with promotions and discount programmes in August and September for a number of key tourism cities and provinces.

Hanoi plans to organise tours to a number of ancient Vietnamese capitals, museums and homestays to attract more tourists to the city as it celebrates its 1,000th anniversary. (VNA)