Vietnam arrivals surge despite unrest
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![Vietnam welcomed 674,204 overseas visitors in May 2014](https://traveldailymedia.com/assets/2014/06/shutterstock_165227789-300x224.jpg)
Vietnam saw a strong rise in international visitor arrivals in May 2014, despite the anti-China protests that threatened to destabilise the country’s tourism industry.
According to the latest data from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the country welcomed 674,204 overseas visitors in May 2014, 20.7% more than the same month last year. An interestingly, arrivals from China – Vietnam’s largest source market – jumped 30.6% year-on-year.
This result is remarkable as the Chinese government advised its citizens not to visit Vietnam after protests erupted in the country in mid-May. Several Chinese travel agents also said they were suspending their Vietnam tours.
But even with these measures in place, China’s contributed 194,018 visitors to Vietnam in May 2014, compared to 148,606 in May 2013. This confirmed China’s position as Vietnam’s biggest tourism source market, accounting for 28.8% of total arrivals.
South Korea (+10.0% to 56,187), Japan (+11.0% to 50,920), Cambodia (+44.9% to 37,422) and Taiwan (+4.8% to 33,688) completed the top five. The US was Vietnam’s top long-haul source market, contributing 30,772 visitors.
For the first five months of the year, Vietnam has now received 3.75 million visitors, up 26.1% year-on-year. This means the country is well on track to achieve its full-year arrivals target of eight million overseas visitors in 2014.
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