An estimated 617,895 international arrivals was recorded in
Vietnam in March, down 10.4 percent from February and 12.9 percent from
the same period last year, according to the Vietnam National
Administration of Tourism (VNAT).
Of the figure, 538,554 came by air, down 10.2 percent from February, while arrivals by land were 70,096, a fall of 19.7 percent.
An
official from the VNAT’s Tourism Market Department attributed the fall
to a sharp drop in the number of vacationers from the two big tourist
sources, China and Russia.
Since late 2014, Vietnam witnessed a
downward number of holiday-makers from Russia, which always stands among
the top 10 tourist markets of Vietnam.
This March saw a
month-on-month decline of 15.8 percent in Russian arrivals to the
country to 27,950, which also represented a 29.3 percent decrease year
on year.
Chinese arrivals in March reached only 103.670, down 18.3 percent over February and 45.6 percent over the same period last year.
An upward foreign arrival trend is expected to be achieved in April given it hosts a number of big celebrations.-VNA