Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Vietnam welcomed as many as 168,295 arrivals from the US in the first seven month of this year, up 34.3% on-year, making the U.S the second biggest market of the communist nation, following China and surpassing Taiwan and Japan, according to Vietnam's General Statistics Office (GSO).

In July alone, the number was reported to be at 28,502, up 28.2% on-month, GSO revealed.

The figures represent satisfactory results but it could have been much better if more tourism promotion programs targeting the tourists had been conducted, said an expert from the Vietnam Administration.

Responding to the threat of the recurrence of the avian flu, which lead to a serious fall in the number of foreigners to the country from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, urgent action should be made in parallel with a long-term strategy aiming at luring more arrivals from the capitalist country, he said.

Vietnam welcomed about 1.63 million foreign tourists in the first seven months of this year, a 31% increase over the same period last year. The arrivals included 230,000 people coming to the country in July.

The country plans to receive between 2.7 million and 2.8 million foreign tourists this year, up 12.5-16% against last year, yielding total revenues of VND25 trillion ($1.6 billion), and posting an increase of 25% against 2003. (Investment Aug 13 p3)