Foreign tourists visit Cham Museum in Da Nang City (Source :VNS/VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - The growth rate of Vietnam's tourism sector was higher than its targets the last five years in terms of volume of tourists, revenue and facilities. 

This follows five years of implementation of its tourism development strategy towards 2020 and 2030. 

According to the Vietnam National Tourism Administration's Institute for Tourism Development and Research, foreign tourist arrivals grew at 5.7 percent on average each year during the 2011-15 period, while the number of local tourists grew at 16.3 percent a year. 

In 2011, the local tourism industry served six million foreign tourists and 30 million local tourists. The figures rose to 7.9 million and 38.5 million, respectively in 2014. 

Meanwhile, Vietnam received seven million foreign tourists and 53.8 million local tourists in the first 11 months of this year. 

The target number of 7.5 million foreign tourists has already been achieved for 2015, with the number of local tourists – at 36 million to 37 million – even exceeding the target. 

The local tourism industry has been successful even though it faced many difficulties, the institute said. 

The tourism industry has also achieved its targets in terms of total revenue, with an average 25 percent annual growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP), the institute said. 

The total revenue earned from tourists touched 130 trillion VND (5.77 billion USD) in 2011 and reached 230 trillion VND (10.2 billion USD) in 2014. In the first 11 months of this year, the figure stood at 313 trillion VND (13.91 billion USD), higher than the targeted 220 trillion VND to 230 trillion VND. 

The nation had 419,280 hotel rooms as of 2015, with their number growing at 15.87 percent each year, the institute said, beating the 2015 target of 390,000 rooms, as per the development strategy towards 2020. 

The local tourism industry had 91 five-star hotels, 219 four-star hotels and 442 three-star hotels. 

The quality of accommodations has improved due to the development of luxury resorts in the central coastal provinces, Phu Quoc and some beaches in the north, under the strategy.

 Private investment in hotels and restaurants has risen strongly in the past five years. 

๊ The development of hotels has attracted large local and foreign investors, such as Accord, Marriott, Park Hyatt and Hilton, besides Movenpick, Vingroup, Sun Group and Muong Thanh, to increase the volume and quality of hotels as well as the growth of the local tourism sector.-VNA