HÀ NỘI - Việt Nam served nearly 7.6 million international holiday-makers in the first five months of this year, up 64.9% year-on-year and 3.9% compared to the same period in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported on May 29.

Of them, 83.7 per cent travelled by air, 14.2 per cent by land, and 2.1 per cent by sea.

In May alone, the country accommodated nearly 1.4 million foreign arrivals, surging by 51 per cent over the same period last year.

Favourable visa policies and attractive tourism stimulus programmes in many localities were attributed to the rising number of foreign visitors to Vietnam, according to the GSO.

Revenue from accommodation and catering services in the reviewed period was estimated to reach VNĐ 296.3 trillion (US$11.64 billion), an increase of 15.1 per cent over the same period last year while travel tourism revenue totaled an estimated VNĐ 24.2 trillion, marking a year-on-year rise of 45.1 per cent.

According to a report from the World Economic Forum (WEF), Việt Nam tourism climbed eight places in its Travel and Tourism Development Index between 2019 and 2021, making it one of the three biggest improvement in the world.

In 2024, the country ranked 59 among the 119 economies nationwide, reaching 3.96 points, down three places compared to 2021. VNA/VNS