Around 310,000 foreign tourists visited Ho Chi Minh City in Jan. 2012, the same number as last year, and about 60,000 overseas Vietnamese entered the country through Tan Son Nhat airport in HCMC during the same period, according to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

During the Tet Lunar New Year holidays, approximately 80,000 passengers commuted via Tan Son Nhat airport, a year-on-year increase of 20 per cent.

The number of tourists travelling to Cambodia through the Moc Bai border gate in Tay Ninh Province numbered about 40,000.

During the Tet holidays, the number of tourists travelling from HCMC to popular tourist spots such as Nha Trang, Da Lat, Phu Quoc, Phan Thiet and Hue, were around 90,000, an increase of 130 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Hanoi said that thanks to visa exemption, the number of overseas Vietnamese have increased sharply, to almost 700,000 this year.

The department predicts that the number of tourists from traditional markets like China, Japan, France, Australia, the Republic of Korea and other Southeast Asian nations will increase in the first quarter of the year.

Hanoi also welcomed more than 1.8 million domestic visitors, a year-on-year rise of 40 per cent. The Huong (Perfume) Pagoda festival and the Thang Long Imperial Citadel relic site attracted the largest number of visitors.

Around 28,500 Vietnamese went abroad to spend their long Tet holiday from January 21 to 29. Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and China remained this year’s favourite destinations.

The number of international tourists in Hanoi during Tet soared by 16 per cent against the same period last year to some 183,000, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism reported yesterday.

The department also forecast a steep rise in the number of visitors from China, Japan, France, Australia, South Korea and some Southeast Asian countries during the first quarter of 2012.

Meanwhile, a 14 per cent increase was recorded in the number of locals travelling abroad through Vietnam travel companies during the country's biggest holiday.