Chinese tourist arrivals grow strongly  The number of Chinese tourist arrivals in Vietnam this July has grown by a hefty 90.9% over the year-ago period, according to the General Statistics Office. Chinese tourists pose for a photo in HCM City’s District 1. Over 173,000 Chinese tourists have come to Vietnam this month, taking the total number in the first seven months to around 998,900. The central region, particularly Danang City, has attracted many tourists coming from China on planes. Meanwhile, the northern region while seeing no significant increase in the number of Chinese tourists arriving by road has welcomed an more visitors using the sea tourism service connecting Quang Ninh with Beihai in China’s Guangxi, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Tran Chi Cuong, deputy director of the Danang Department of Cultural, Sports and Tourism, said China was the largest visitor-generating market of the city. There are currently eight air routes from China and one from Hong Kong bringing tourists on chartered flights to Danang. On average, there are 2-3 flights per week. “We haven’t had July data, but in the first half of 2013, Danang welcomed 78,200 Chinese tourist arrivals by air. In the coming time, the number of tourists will rise further since several air routes from Kunming, Taipei, Nanjing and Dalian will resume service,” said Cuong. Overall, the country has welcomed over 658,000 international tourist arrivals this July, up 28.5% year-on-year, taking the total number in the first seven months to more than 4.19 million, a rise of 5.9% over the same period in 2012. In related news, the Danang Department of Cultural, Sports and Tourism together with dozens of travel firms will organize a tourism promotion event in Can Tho on August 15, with an aim of luring tourists from this city and other localities in the Mekong Delta. Cuong informed Danang was working with a number of air carriers over the launch of a Danang-Can Tho service. “Danang’s tourism products are very different from the Mekong Delta region’s, so we want to open an air route to attract visitors,” he said. The number of Mekong Delta tourist arrivals in Danang remains modest. Tourists from this region must make a trip to Danang by road, or travel to HCMC to catch a flight to Danang. Either way it is very time consuming, he remarked. Source: SGT