The low season of the inbound section is from April to August with visitor arrivals often falling month by month.

According to a report by the General Statistics Office, the country has attracted 2.51 million foreign visitors in the first half of this year, up 32.6% year-on-year.

The tourism sector has posted double-digit growth in visitors from key Asian markets such as China, South Korea and Japan. China has remained the biggest market for the tourism sector, with 437,000 Chinese coming to the country in the year to date, up 92.5%.

Far-away markets like the U.S. and France have registered lower growth. Nearly 231,000 Americans have toured Vietnam, up 3.5% year-on-year, while French tourists have numbered 101,000, a 10.4% improvement.

As the country’s biggest tourism center, HCMC says it has received around 1.5 million foreign visitors in the six months, up 12% from a year ago.

Vo Anh Tai, Director of Saigontourist Travel Service Co., told the Daily that the company had served about 71,000 foreign tourists so far this year, with growth ranging from 10% to 15% depending on markets.

“This is the good growth rate compared to the same period of 2009 but it is still far from the levels recorded in 2007-2008,” he said.

He noted his company had seen no recovery in tourist numbers from some source markets like the U.S. and Europe since the financial crisis.

His companies expected better performance late this year but the market would not be returning to the level of 2007.

By Dao Loan - The Saigon Times Daily