Tourists pour into Vietnam

The number of foreign tourists passing through the Noi Bai International Airport increased over the first three days of the Year of the Tiger, said the Border Customs Department of the airport.
From February 14-17, nearly 10,000 international passengers, mainly Europeans and overseas Vietnamese, arrived in Ha Noi for the traditional Tet (lunar new year) festival.
Over the same period, 87 flights with almost 8,220 passengers departed from Ha Noi’s Noi Bai.
In the shadow of the global economic crisis, last year the airport welcomed almost 2.5 million passengers.
Meanwhile, Da Nang International Airport received 158 Japanese tourists within five hours of the New Year’s Eve.
Foreign entrants arriving by sea are also set to rise this year. According to cruise liner OSC, nearly 12,000 visitors across 19 cruise ships are expected to visit Da Nang in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year rise of 21 per cent.
Last year, the Tien Sa Port in Da Nang welcomed more than 30,000 visitors on 44 voyages.