A survey has shown that among those intending international travel in the next two years, 31 percent regard Vietnam as their next travel destination, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Friday.

Visa International Asia Pacific and the Pacific Asia Travel Association on Thursday released the Asia Travel Intentions Survey 2007.

According to the survey, 31 percent of 5,050 international travelers from 10 key travel markets worldwide, including Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, the United States and Sweden, consider Vietnam as their next travel destination, compared with 24 percent in the previous survey.

Five major factors contributing to travelers' decision to choose Vietnam as their destination include low prices of goods and services (49 percent of the respondents), natural landscapes ( 44 percent), Vietnamese culture (41 percent), adventure tours (38 percent), and friendly people (35 percent), according to the survey.

The survey indicates that 52 percent of the surveyed people regarded Asia as their next travel destination. Thailand was again rated as the No.1 destination on travelers' holiday lists, followed by Japan and China.

Vietnam welcomed nearly 3.6 million foreign visitors, mainly from Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, North America, Western Europe and Eastern Europe, in 2006, up from nearly 3.5 million in 2005. Meanwhile, it hosted 17.5 million domestic visitors, up 9.4 percent, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

This year, Vietnam is eyeing 4.4 million foreign visitors and 18.5 million domestic ones, and tourism revenues of 2.5 billion U. S. dollars. The country targets 5.5-6.0 million international arrivals and 25-26 million domestic visitors, and total tourism revenues of 4.0-4.5 billion dollars in 2010.

Source: Xinhua