Vietnam's domestic tourists hit 6.1mn during Lunar New Year holiday

Hanoi, Feb 9 (IANS) Tourist hotspots across Vietnam received some 6.1 million domestic visitors during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday, the country's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has said.

The Lunar New Year holiday ended on Sunday. During the biggest holiday of the year, domestic travelers surpassed the number posted in December 2021 at 5.2 million, bringing more than 25 trillion Vietnamese dongs ($1.1 billion) in tourism revenue.

Southern Tay Ninh province hosted the largest number of visitors at 595,000, followed by southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province and central highlands Lam Dong province, Xinhua news agency reported.

Although Hanoi canceled festivals and activities over Covid-19 concerns, the Vietnamese capital city recorded 105,000 tourists during the holiday. The visitors were mainly from nearby localities such as northern Bac Giang, Ha Nam and Thai Binh provinces.

Vietnam aims to attract 65 million tourists this year, up 150 per cent as compared to 2021, including five million foreigners, earning 400 trillion Vietnamese dongs ($17.6 billion), according to the Ministry. It recently proposed the full resumption of inbound and outbound tourism starting March 31, when the country is expected to have completed administering the third shot of Covid-19 vaccines.

In 2021, Vietnam hosted just 157,300 international arrivals, plunging 95.9 per cent on a yearly basis, mainly due to impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to its General Statistics Office.