Nearly 2.5 million tourists visited the Southern Vietnamese city of Can Tho in 2008, including 848,000 overnight tourist arrivals, an increase of 22 percent against 2007, reaching 89 percent of the yearly target.
Of this figure, foreign tourist arrivals accounted for nearly 183,400, an increase of 18 percent against 2007, reaching 73 percent of the yearly target and domestic tourist arrivals were 665,000, an increase of 24 percent against 2007, reaching 95 percent of the yearly target. In spite of effects from inflation and the economic downturn making the tourist arrivals target unreachable, the tourism turnover still nearly fulfilled the yearly target. In 2008, the city’s tourism sector earned nearly VND 451.5 billion from tourism, an increase of 24 percent against 2007, and fulfilled 100 percent of the yearly target, contributing nearly VND 40 billion to the city’s budget.
The Can Tho Culture, Sports and Tourism Department said that these results are thanks to the organizing of a series of tourism events during the Mekong-Can Tho National Tourism Year 2008. The opening week of this event attracted more than 300,000 tourists, including more than 70,000 foreign tourists.
At present, the city is focusing on the closing ceremony of the Mekong-Can Tho National Tourism Year, in combination with the 5th Anniversary Celebration of Can Tho being recognized as a centrally-governed city, and the 2009 New Years Celebrations.