Published:  09:17 Monday - August 01, 2016

According to Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the number of foreign tourists traveling to Vietnam in July increased rapidly and was the largest number in the first seven months of 2016.

Vietnam recorded the year’s highest monthly foreign arrival numbers in July after they jumped 21 percent from the previous month and 41 percent from a year ago to more than 846,300.

Nearly a third of the arrivals came from China, which continued to be the biggest market after growing almost twice since July last year, according to figures from the General Statistics Office.

The second biggest market, South Korea, saw a 60 percent increase year-on-year while the third, Japan, grew at a modest 14 percent.

Japanese and South Korean visitors can visit Vietnam for up to 15 days without a visa.

Other markets that benefit from the same policy – Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK – saw increases of up to 33 percent.

All other markets except Finland recorded increases.

The number of visitors from New Zealand rose 63 percent from a year ago and nearly 45 percent from June, when Air New Zealand launched non-stop service between Ho Chi Minh City and Auckland.

So far this year the number of arrivals has increased by 24 percent to more than 5.55 million.

Tourism revenues in the first seven months were nearly VND235 trillion (US$10.5 billion), a 23 percent rise.