HCMC – Vietnam saw a surge in international tourist arrivals during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday from January 21 to 26, with hotel bookings by foreign guests accounting for 30-40% of the total.

Hanoi got an estimated 32,000 international guests during the period, with most of them from South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Canada and France.

Khanh Hoa saw a daily average of 15 Vietjet Air flights coming from China, with around 180-220 tourists on each flight. It also served around 1,400 visitors from Kazakhstan and South Korea. The total number of international tourists in the province reached around 11,300 during Tet.

Ninh Binh Province attracted around 29,500 foreigners, while around 10,688 international travelers came to the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

The northern province of Lao Cai earned around VND23 billion from inbound tourism.

Saigontourist Group arranged tours for six groups of guests from Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, the U.S., Germany and Switzerland.

There were around nine million domestic tourists during Tet nationwide, up over 47.5% over the same period last year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

However, the number of domestic tourists using accommodation services was estimated at around two million, down 37.5% versus the year-ago period. As a result, total revenue from domestic tourism stood at VND17.5 trillion, down 30%.