(VOVworld) - Vietnam welcomed nearly 564,000 foreign travelers in July, a year-on-year rise of 4.6% bringing the total number of foreign arrivals in Vietnam so far this year to over 4.85 million.

 According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Vietnam aims to receive up to 8.2 million foreign visitors and serve 37.5 million domestic holiday-makers to earn approximately 11.3 billion USD in revenue. A resolution on tourism development in the new context will be issued in August with one of the main contents being to promote advertisements and mobilize resources. Under the resolution, apart from the state budget, part of the source of revenue from tourists will be used for promotion programs. In addition, the sector is trying to attract more visitors from potential markets in terms of the number of travelers, long stayers, and readiness for spending. The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has recently asked the Prime Minister to extend visa exemptions for Russian visitors to 30 days from the current period of 15 days. Earlier, the Prime Minister decided on unilateral visa exemptions for citizens from seven countries for 15 days, including Japan, the Republic of Korea (in 2004), Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden (in 2005) and Russia (in 2009).