According to General Stastistics Office (GSO), the number of international arrivals to Vietnam in February 2012 was estimated 681,849, increasing by 8.2% in comparison with January 2012 and 29.4% over the same period of 2011.
In February, by means of transportation, international arrivals to Vietnam by air reached 592,430, an increase of 31.3% from February 2011; by sea: 5,977 (up 42.3%); by road: 83,422 (up 16.5%).
By purposes of trips, the number of leisure tourists was 413,971 arrivals, up 32.6% compared to February 2011; those for business: 113,717 (up 22.9%); for visiting relatives: 114,200 (up 23.8%); for others: 39,961 (up 33.1%).
International arrivals from most of markets achieved positive growth, led by Russia with 55.1%, followed by China (51.5%), Taiwan (40.5%), South Korea (38.4%), Cambodia (32.1%), Malaysia (31.9%), France (18.8%), Japan (16.9%), USA (1.5%).
Thus, the number of international arrivals to Vietnam in the first two months reached 1,311,849 arrivals, increasing by 27.1% over the same period of 2011. With this impressive result, tourism has become a highlight of the Vietnam’s economy in current difficult period.