Some 5.3 million foreign visitors came to the country in the first 11 months of 2011, up 15.9 per cent year-on-year, and meeting the country's tourism target, according to the General Statistics Office.

Tourism, including domestic, earned an estimated VND110 trillion (US$5.2 billion) or 4.5 per cent of the nation's GDP, this year.

Of those coming to the country, 4.5 million arrived by plane, 20.8 per cent up on last year. However, the number of visitors coming to the country by sea and road decreased by 30 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively, to 32,000 and 833,000.

Of those coming to the country, 3.2 million came for a holiday – up 13 per cent against the same period last year – 890,000 came to visit relatives, and 887,000 arrived for business purposes.

China topped the tables, with 1.2 million visitors coming to the country, up 49 per cent on last year. Meanwhile, there were 473,000 visitors from South Korea, up 5.1 per cent on 2010.

Visitors from Japan, the US, France, Cambodia, Taiwan, Australia and Malaysia also surged significantly.

Source: VNS