HANOI, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam hosted nearly 91,000 international arrivals between January and March, up 89.1 percent year-on-year, mainly thanks to the reopening of international tourism activities and the resumption of several regular flights, the General Statistics Office said Tuesday.
In the period, foreign visitors entering the country by air accounted for around 90.5 percent of the total, as 64.3 percent of the arrivals were from Asia, according to the office.
Vietnam fully reopened its borders to international visitors on March 15 as part of efforts to revive the country's tourism and economy after nearly two years of interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vietnam received a record number of over 18 million international arrivals in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic broke out, according to the office. In 2020 and 2021, the number of international arrivals to Vietnam respectively plunged 78.7 percent and 95.9 percent year-on-year, mainly due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The country has targeted serving over 5 million overseas tourists in 2022, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. ■