International visitors to Vietnam see slight increase in October

International visitors to Vietnam in October, 2020 were estimated at 14,800, up 7.6% over the previous month and down 99, 1% over the same period last year.

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)
Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

The information was officially announced by the General Statistics Office on October 29.

Generally, in the ten months of 2020, foreign visitors to Vietnam were estimated at 3.8 million, down 73.8% over the same period last year.

According to the report, Vietnam is still not open to international visitors; international visitors to Vietnam in October are foreign experts and technical workers working on projects in Vietnam.

Visitors are mainly from Asia, accounting for 73.2% of the total number of international visitors to Vietnam, but still down 75.8% over the same period last year. In particular, visitors from three markets China, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Laos accounted for 70% of visitors in October. However, visitors from major markets still fell sharply. Accordingly, visitors from China decreased 79.4% over the same period last year, the ROK down 76.2% over the same period last year, Japan down 74.1%; and Taiwan (China) decreased 74.4%.

Facing the impact of the "double punch" caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Vietnamese tourism industry is making efforts and actively implementing measures to stimulate demand in order to "revive" the entire tourism industry, especially in the last months of the year.

On September 18, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched a program to stimulate domestic tourism in the last months of 2020 on the basis of the safety of the nation’s attractions.

According to the leader of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the object of the programme is to not only attract Vietnamese tourists but also target foreigners living and working in Vietnam.