The January-July figure was up 1.9% from the same period in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, said the GSO in a report released on July 29.
Statistics show 8.4 million foreigners chose to travel to Vietnam by air, around 1.4 million by road, and the remainder by sea.
Asia was the largest Vietnamese tourist market with over 7.9 million arrivals, up 57.1% year on year. This was followed by Europe with 1.62 million arrivals, rising by 47.3%; the Americas with 610,200 arrivals, up 19.7%; Australia with 309,000 arrivals, up 27.3%; and Africa with 29,200 arrivals, up 98.5%, respectively.
July alone saw the country receive 1.15 million international arrivals, up 10.9% compared to the same period last year.
The number of international visitors has increased strongly thanks to the effectiveness of favourable visa policies, along with the tourism promotion stimulus programme which has been put in place.
The GSO anticipates that future growth momentum will be maintained over the coming months towards meeting the set goal of welcoming 18 million foreign tourists by the end of the year.
