VN welcomes thousands of foreign tourists on first days of New Year

Saturday, January 3, 2015 | 15:07:25

(VOVworld) – Thousands of foreign tourists from around the world have chosen Vietnam for their first holiday season of the year.

VN welcomes thousands of foreign tourists on first days of New Year - ảnh 1

The first foreign tourists to Ho Chi Minh City were greeted with flowers and presented with calligraphy paintings from local tourist and cultural officials.

Ho Chi Minh City celebrated a ceremony at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Friday to welcome more than 1,000 foreign tourists to the city in the first day of New Year.

VN welcomes thousands of foreign tourists on first days of New Year - ảnh 2

They were invited to drink tea in Vietnamese traditional style

The ceremony is considered as an annual activity was held by the municipal Tourism Department, aiming to promote the image of Ho Chi Minh City and express the local hospitality to international friends as an attractive destination.

About 30,000 tourists visited Sa Pa in the northern province of Lao Cai, a year-on-year increase of up to 20%. Approximately 3,000 hotel rooms in the district had been booked in advance a month earlier.

Over the first three days of 2015, about 9,000 of the total 35,000 visitors arrived in Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan province. Most of foreign tourists came from Russia, Germany, Australia, France, Sweden, the US, Britain, and Finland.