(TITC) - According to General Statistics Office (GSO), the number of international arrivals to Viet Nam in June 2013 was estimated 567,291, increasing by 1.5% in comparison with May 2013 and 29.9% over the same period of 2012. Total international arrivals in 6 months reached 3,540,403 representing a 2.6% growth over the same period of 2012; domestic tourists were 24 million, up 12%, total revenue achieved 105 trillion VND, up 23.5%.
In the first 6 months, in spite of global economic recession which has been strongly impacting Viet Nam's source markets, the tourism sector still took advantage of its strengths and gained positive growth.
To achieve this result, tourism administrations have focused on facilitating activities of tour operators and investment in tourist accommodation system. By June 2013, there are 1,184 tour operators of international travel business. The total number of tourist accommodations is estimated 13,700 with about 290,000 rooms, including 61 five-star hotels with 14,600 rooms, 154 four-star hotels with 19,300 rooms, 365 three-star hotels with 25,520 rooms...
Tourism sector also took part in international tourist fairs such as Laos ATF Travex, ITB Berlin, Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition – MITT 2013, roadshow in Italy... Besides, provinces and cities also organized various tourism events in order to introduce tourism products, particularly National Tourism Year of Red River Delta - Hai Phong, Viet Nam International Travel Mart - VITM Hanoi, Carnival Halong, Danang International Fireworks Competition - DIFC, International Sea Travel Expo - ISTE Nha Trang - Vietnam, Quang Nam Heritage Festival...
Especially, TripAdvisor, a world-class travel website, listed four cities (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Ha Long) in Top 25 destinations in Asia and three museums (The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and the Vietnam Women's Museum in Hanoi) in the 25 most attractive museums in Asia, reinforcing reputation of Viet Nam tourism on international arena.
For the last months of 2013, tourism sector will implement core missions such as completing master plans for regional tourism development; improving tourism environment; fostering inspection of destinations, tour operators and hotels; joining ITE HCM 2013; organizing events in framework of National Tourism Year 2013...
Hong Thanh