(VOVworld) – Vietnam welcomed the 10 millionth foreign tourist on Sunday. This is the first time the number of foreign arrivals in Vietnam has hit the 10 millionth mark.

Vietnam’s tourism sector hopes to attract 15 million foreign tourists and contribute 10% of the national GDP by 2020. Nguyen Van Tuan, General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said that his year the tourism industry achieved 2 impressive figures:“2016 comes to an end with an absolute tourism growth of 25% - 2 million guests more visitors than last year. This poses a challenge to keep the momentum for 2017 and the following year. The 10 million mark is impressive, but modest compared with our neighbors Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. We should do our best to boost our growth momentum.”

Next year, the tourism sector is set to welcome 11.5 million foreign visitors and 66 million domestic tourists and earn 20 billion USD. Vietnam has proved itself to be an attractive, safe, and friendly destination in Asia-Pacific.