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The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
has put Vietnam in the list of the top Asian countries with strong tourism
performance in the first half of this year.
UNWTO said in a statement about global tourism that international tourist
arrivals are estimated to have grown by 7% in the first six months. Asia Pacific
with the growth of 14% and the Middle East with 20% led growth in the global
tourism industry in the period.
The organization said Vietnam and Myanmar had the same growth of 35%, ranking
the two countries as particular countries which had strong results in the
period, behind Sri Lanka and Japan.
“Asia in particular is experiencing a very dynamic rebound, with strong results
from Sri Lanka (49%), Japan (36%), Vietnam (35%), Myanmar (35%), Hong Kong
(China) (23%), Macao (China) (23%) and Singapore (23%),” says the report.
UNWTO said Asia had once again shown a strong capacity for recovery.
International tourism has been a driving force in the region, currently the
second most visited region in the world with 181 million international tourist
arrivals, or 21% of the world total.
However, the organization still maintained its forecast that the global tourism
sees continued growth but risks remain. “Although we are witnessing a clear
recovery in international tourism, we must remain cautious,” UNWTO
Secretary-General Taleb Rifai said in the statement.
Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, earlier
told the Daily that local travel remained a key pillar for the country’s
tourism, with up to 17 million Vietnamese people traveling in the first half,
representing over two-thirds of the figure for all of 2009.
Growth in international visitor arrivals was 32.6% in the first half, with more
than 2.51 million foreign visitors coming to the country. The number reached
nearly 3.35 million in the first eight months, up 35.2% year-on-year.
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