The country welcomed over 15,000 foreign tourists in November, up 42.4 percent from October, the data from General Statistics Office (GSO) showed.
The rise is attributed to the Government’s decision to allow a pilot program to welcome back international tourists who join package tours via either charter flights or international commercial flights to designated places and tourism facilities in Phú Quốc island of Kien Giang province, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Da Nang and Quang Ninh.
Related: Vietnam will welcome the first group of Thai tourists this month
According to the GSO, in the first 11 months of this year, the number of foreign tourist arrivals to the country was 140,100, down 96.3 per cent year-on-year, Vietnam News reported.
Of the total, the number of visitors arriving by air accounted for 68.9 per cent, down 96.9 percent; by road accounted for 30.7 percent, down 92.9 percent, and by sea made up 0.4 percent, down 99.7 percent.
Tourist in Vietnam during the coronavirus pandemic
General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyễn Trùng Khánh told reporter that, the event to welcome the first group of international holidaymakers to Vietnam this month was an important step to gradually revive the tourism sector towards full reopening and economic development, after nearly two years of border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In order to enhance the effectiveness of the “Live fully in Vietnam” campaign, VNAT is actively implementing activities to promote and stimulate tourism recovery, including promoting images, video clips and articles on both domestic and international communication channels, according to the Vietnam News.