The number of foreign tourists visiting Vietnam in the first eleven months of 2011 reached more than 5.3 million, a year-on-year increase of 15.9 percent, reported the Vietnam General Statistics Office.

Of the total, the number of foreign tourists visiting Vietnam for recreational purposes amounted to more than 3.2 million, up 13 percent while those for business and visiting relatives were 887,000 and 889,000 arrivals, respectively.

Over the past eleven months, almost all markets saw increases in the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam. China topped the list with 1.24 million arrivals, up 49 percent. The next were the Republic of Korea (RoK) with more than 473,000 arrivals (up 5.1 percent), Japan with 425,600 (up 6.8 percent), the US with 398,700 (up 0.8 percent) and Cambodia with 376,400 (up 6.1 percent).

With the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam in the first eleven months this year, the target of the tourism sector to welcome 5.3-5.5 million foreign tourists for the whole of the year was fulfilled. (Source: CPV)