In December 2011, more than 593,000 foreign tourists visited Vietnam, bringing the total arrivals to the country in the whole year to more than 6 million, a 19.1 percent increase from 2010.

Of the total, in 2011, the number of foreign tourists visiting Vietnam for recreational purposes amounted to more than 3.65 million, up 17.4 percent while those for business and visiting relatives were more than 1 million and nearly 1.1 million arrivals, respectively.

Over the past year, almost all markets saw a rise in the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam. China topped the list with 1.4 million arrivals, up 56.5 percent from last year. The next were the Republic of Korea (RoK) with more than 536,000 arrivals (up 8.2 percent), Japan with more than 481,000 arrivals (up 8.9 percent) and the US with more than 439,000 arrivals (up 0.8 percent). Southeast Asian markets such Cambodia and Malaysia also witnessed considerably growth with 66.3 percent and 10.3 percent from 2010.

Aiming to promote the achievements, with the theme “Heritage Tourism” in Central North Coastal province and Hue, the National Tourism Year 2012 will focus on cultural and spiritual tourist products on the basis of tangible heritage sites such as Hue Ancient Capital, temples, pagodas and old villages and intangible heritage such as Hue Royal Court Music, Hue singing and folk festivals. (Source: CPV)