Tourism up 18% in Vietnam

Vietnam in September alone welcomed 350,000 foreign tourists, raising the total number of foreign visitors in the first nine months of 2007 to 3.2 million, up 18 per cent year-on-year.

The country saw increases in the number of tourists from countries and territories that are renowned for high consumer spending levels such as Hong Kong - up 31 per cent; Japan, 14 per cent; the Republic of Korea, 22 per cent; Russia, 60 per cent; France, 40 per cent, and the Netherlands, 42 per cent.

Tourists from ASEAN countries were also on the rise as Indonesian, Singaporean, Thai and Malaysian arrivals surged by between 12-61 per cent. Room occupancy rates in key tourist sites all exceeded 70 per cent throughout the country, while 4-5 star hotels in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang reported having between 90-100 per cent of their rooms booked.