Foreign visitor arrivals up   Foreign tourists in Nha Trang City. The country welcomed over 6 million visitors in the first nine months of the year. - VNS Photo Truong Vi HA NOI  (VNS) - Viet Nam welcomed more than 6 million international arrivals during the first nine months of 2014, up by 10.42 per cent compared to the same period last year. The number of domestic tourists hit 32.4 million during the same period, an increase of 7.6 per cent, according to the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT). Tourism has generated VND179 trillion (US$8.44 billion) so far this year, a year-on-year rise of 19.24 per cent. The launch of a brand new hydro-plane service earlier this month linking Ha Noi and Ha Long Bay, a World Natural Heritage site, is expected to attract more tourists to the country. The Hai Au Aviation Joint Stock Company has scheduled one to three flights between Ha Noi and Ha Long City per day, and five to ten daily sightseeing flights over Ha Long Bay. The company is planning to open new routes from HCM City in the near future, including to Mui Ne in Binh Thuan Province, Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province, Con Dao Island in Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province and Phu Quoc Island in Kien Giang Province. During the nine-month period, Ha Noi received nearly 1.5 million tourists, up 17.1 per cent year-on-year. HCM City, the country's southern economic hub, earned roughly VND19 trillion ($896 million) from hotel and tourism services, up by 8.3 per cent year-on-year. - VNS