The number of foreign tourist arrivals to Vietnam rose 15.6 percent in the first seven months of this year in comparison to the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The Southeast Asian country welcomed 4.85 million foreign visitors from January to July, the GSO said in a report released on July 29.

There were 564,700 tourists visiting the country in July alone, an increase of 4.6 percent compared to the previous month, the report said.

The January-July statistics have shown that the number of international tourists visiting Vietnam for recreational and leisure purposes reached 2.9 million, a 13.9 percent rise while 815,811 and 836,388 came to the country to do business and visit relatives, up 16.1 and 19.5 percent, respectively, year on year.

The GSO said the number of tourist arrivals from all countries went up in July, with visitors from Hong Kong accounting for the strongest growth (211.3 percent) at 10,735 people, followed by Germany with 81,761 tourists, up 199.4 percent compared to the same period last year.

In 2014, the tourism sector expects to welcome eight to 8.2 million international visitors and serve 37.5 million local tourists, earning about VND240 trillion (US$11.4 billion) in revenue.

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