The central province of Thua Thien-Hue has hosted almost 2.4 million tourists so far in 2012, up 25 percent against the same period last year.
There have been 803,000 foreign nationals from China, Thailand, Italy, Spain, the UK, the US, Canada and Australia alone, showing a year-on-year increase of 26 percent.
Since the beginning of the year, the province has organised more than 30 major programmes as part of the 2012 National Tourism Year for the North Central region to attract tourists, 11 of which are culture, sports and tourism specific programmes at both national and international levels.
The programmes have focussed on traditional festivals, such as the Hue Festival 2012 and Buddhist Festival, as well as beach tours around Tam Giang lagoon, Thuan An beach and Lang Co bay.
The recent Hue Festival 2012 attracted 180,000 visitors, including 80,000 foreign nationals, about 50 percent more than in 2010.
The number of sea travellers to Hue has also risen sharply. This year, Thua Thien-Hue plans to welcome 25 cruise ships, bringing 40,000 new arrivals, mainly from China, Spain, the UK, the US and Canada.