The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has posted a slower growth rate of foreign visitor arrivals in the country in the first half of the year than in the same period last year.

International guests coming here in the country for leisure travel are expected to rise a mere 11.2% in January-June, compared to the 40.3% increase a year ago. A VNAT report says the purpose of 1.77 million of the 2.96 million foreigners who have visited the nation in the year to end-June is leisure travel.

In the same period of last year, leisure and business travelers grew the most but it is different in this year’s first half. Around 493,000 foreign people have visited the nation for business, 98.3% of last year’s period.

The tourism industry is in the low inbound season, from April to September, so foreign visitors to the country this month are forecast to fall by around 39,000 from last month but still improve 19% year-on-year.

Foreign visitor arrivals in the first six months are estimated to expand 18.1% year-on-year.

HCMC, the biggest tourism center of the nation, has estimated January-June foreign visitor arrivals in the city at 1.65 million, up 10% year-on-year.

Revenue from the city’s tourism services in the period is projected at VND23 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 24%, said the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

In related news, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the HCMC tourism authority on Friday hold a meeting in the city to announce the HCMC International Travel Expo scheduled for September 14 to 17.

The national event at the at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in District 7’s Phu My Hung New Urban Area is aimed at promoting joint tourism development in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Source: SGT