Published:  00:00 Wednesday - December 26, 2007

Foreign arrivals in Ho Chi Minh City are estimated to reach 2.7 million in 2007, representing an increase of 14.8 percent over 2006.

The number of tourists from China saw a growth rate of 50 percent over the previous year, Singapore (41 percent), Australia (33 percent), Malaysia (28 percent), the Republic of Korea (22 percent), France (18 percent), Canada (15 percent), Taiwan (11 percent), the United States (5 percent) and Japan (4 percent).

Visitors from Russia mostly chose the Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exposition (MICE) tours. The market, though not yet included in the top ten list, hit a high growth rate of 75 percent.

Outbound tours attracted almost 600,000 citizens from the southern economic hub and surrounding provinces, up 12 percent compared to last year.

Their favourite destinations were Singapore and Malaysia, showing increases of 22 percent and 26 percent, respectively. Thailand was still a big venue for Vietnamese tourists but reported a sharp decrease of 20 percent while the number of Vietnamese arrivals in China did not change much.