Vietnam 2009 arrivals decline

Visitor arrivals to Vietnam dropped by 10.9% during 2009 to 3,772,359 arrivals, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism reported recently.

Overall, there was a 7.8% decline in air arrivals, which reached 3,025,625. Overland arrivals dropped by 15% to 680,800.

Leisure travel stood at 2,226,440, down 14.8% and business travel delivered 783,139 arrivals, a decline of 0.2%.

China continued to be the top source market at 527,610 arrivals, but production was down 18%. Travel from US dropped 2.6% to 403,930. South Korea dropped 19.4% to 362,115.

Thailand stood ninth on the source market ranks with 152,633 arrivals, which represented a 16.3% decline.

According to local news reports, VNAT has set a foreign arrivals target of between 4.5 to 4.6 million this year, with revenue of up to VND78 trillion (US$4.2 billion).