Vietnam is estimated to welcome over one million international arrivals in the first three months of this year, posting a year-on-year rise of 15 percent.

The visitors were mainly from Russia, the United States, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Germany and Holland, said an official from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) on Monday.

Vietnam has planned to pour 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in the tourism sector from now to 2010, and most of the money will be spent on upgrading roads leading to tourism resorts nationwide, and developing new infrastructure works in the central region and Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands region), the official said.

With the investment, the country hopes to welcome 5.5 million to 6 million foreign visitors and 25 million to 26 million domestic ones in 2010, and make total tourism revenues of 4 billion to 4.5 billion dollars.

Vietnam hosted nearly 3.5 million international arrivals and 16 million domestic visitors in 2005.

Source: Xinhua