(VOVworld) – A ceremony was held in Hanoi on Saturday to mark the 56^th anniversary of Vietnam’s tourism sector on July 9.

Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Van Tuan said the sector has contributed significantly to national socio-economic development, economic restructuring, investment attraction, job generation, poverty reduction, and the promotion of Vietnam’s image abroad. In the first half of the year, Vietnam welcomed 4.7 million foreign tourists, up 21.3% from 2015, raking in 10 billion USD. Tuan said: “We’ll focus on revising the Law on Tourism to create a solid basis for long-term, sustainable growth. We’ll propose a number of policies to Party and government leaders for consideration, which will create breakthroughs in tourism development in the new period. We’ll strengthen cooperation with other relevant agencies and localities to improve the quality of tourism services.”