The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has released its first-ever annual tourism report that contains some interesting data about visitors to Vietnam.
The report focuses on data compiled in 2014, a categorically poor year for the local tourism industry.
Some of the more interesting statistics found in the document relate to the spending habits of different nationalities when visiting Vietnam.
Australians, whose trips lasted an average of 15.5 days, were by far the most generous with their outlays of cash with each visitor from the Commonwealth spending US$1,677 per journey. Germans came in second with a $1,367 per visitor spend, followed by Brits at US$1,348.
In terms of overall visitors to Vietnam, China led the way with nearly two million visitors. Korea (847,958), Japan (647,956), the US (443,776) and Cambodia (404,159) rounded out the top five.
The 7.9 million tourists who came to Vietnam in 2014 were responsible for $7.9 billion, or 60% of total tourism revenue. The entire tourism sector raked in $11.37 billion last year, representing 6.5% of the country’s GDP and provided 2.9 million Vietnamese with jobs.
The report was created with assistance from the EU-funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism program and includes market comparisons between Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.
2014 and early 2015 were very poor periods for tourism in Vietnam with the country posting 13 consecutive months of declining visits by international tourists.
Things got better in July when the industry showed positive growth, partly due to a slew of visa waivers granted by the Vietnamese government. According to tourism minister Hoang Tuan Anh, the sector has already generated $15 billion so far this year, reports Thanh Nien.
[Top photo via Noodles and Beef]
