Fewer international tourists travel to Vietnam

      Since the beginning of this year, Vietnam has welcomed around 1.6 million international tourists, a 18.8% decrease in comparison with the same period last year, according to the National Tourism Administration.
The agency also said that the number of international tourists travelling to Vietnam during May was just over 292,000 people, 1.1% lower than in April.
The greatest drop in international visitors to Vietnam were those from Thailand, Malaysia, China, the US and France.
The global economic crisis and impact of the A/H1N1 outbreak in many countries in the world are blamed for the decline in the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam.
To attract more tourists from other countries over the world, the National Tourism Administration has launched a free-visa fee programme from May 15th to September 30th for international tourists.
With the new programme, the tourism sector hopes to achieve this year’s target of 5 million international tourists.