Vietnam, which is not hit by tsunamis last month, has received more foreign tourists in the first days of 2005, according to the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism on Thursday.

After the disaster hit some regional countries, many foreigners, mainly from Europe, considered Vietnam, which has many beach resorts like Indonesia and Thailand, their safe destination for the time being.

Tourists spent their winter holidays here also for warm weather.

Over 10,000 foreign visitors came to Vietnam in the first four days of this year. The number of back-packers arriving in the country via its international airports of Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhatin the first three days of January increased 30 percent against the last days of December 2004.

Around 75 percent of rooms in big hotels here in the country's capital and Ho Chi Minh City, such as Daewoo, Melia, Sofitel Plazaand Caravelle, have been booked for this month.

To meet the increasing demand, the local tourism sector has focused on improving services, upgrading hotels, and launching some promotional programs.

Vietnam hosted over 2.9 million foreign visitors last year, a year-on-year rise of 20.5 percent. It plans to welcome at least 3.1 million international arrivals and record tourism revenues of some 2 billion US dollars this year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2005)