Vietnam is estimated to welcome over 1.8 million international arrivals in the first half of this year, a year-on-year rise of over 11 percent.

The visitors were mainly from China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and the United States, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) on Thursday.

Between January and June, the number of Chinese visitors is estimated to decrease some 20 percent from the same period last year, while that of arrivals from other foreign countries is set to soar.

To lure more foreign visitors, Vietnam is intensifying tourism promotion in such key markets as the United States, Japan and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), improving quality of service and upgrading infrastructure.

Vietnam hopes to welcome 5.5-6 million foreign visitors and 25- 26 million domestic ones in 2010, and make total tourism revenues of 4-4.5 billion U.S. dollars in the year.

The country hosted nearly 3.5 million international arrivals and 16 million domestic visitors in 2005, said the VNAT.

Source: Xinhua