China remains the biggest tourist market of Vietnam in the first seven months of this year with a year-on-year rise of 4.3 percent in number of Chinese mainland visitors.

In the period, Vietnam is estimated to receive 478,200 visitors from the Chinese mainland, or 23.3 percent of the total number of international arrivals to the country, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) told Xinhua Wednesday.

Other key tourist markets of Vietnam between January and July include the United States with 204,000 visitors; South Korea, over 179,100; and China's Taiwan, 163,500.

The number of foreign arrivals to Vietnam, in the 7-month period, is estimated to surge 23.8 percent to over 2 million, of whom nearly 59.3 percent go to the country for touring, and 15.9 percent for visiting their relatives.

"This year, Vietnam is expected to host 3.4 million international arrivals, up 17.2 percent. We will also receive some16 million local visitors, up 17.6 percent," the VNAT said, adding that the country is likely to earn around 33 trillion Vietnamese dong (nearly US$2.1 billion) from tourism services in 2005.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association has recently forecast that Vietnam, in the next three years, will rank fifth in attracting foreign visitors among ASEAN members, after Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia.

(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2005)