Popular Vietnamese beach sees surge in Chinese tourists

The number of Chinese visiting Mui Ne in Vietnam's Binh Thuan province has increased sharply, outnumbering Russians, local online newspaper Thanh Nien (Young People) News reported on Friday.

Binh Thuan has attracted more than 2.3 million visitors so far this year, a 7.4 percent increase over last year, including 258, 200 foreigners.

According to an official report from province authorities this week, Chinese tourists accounted for 20 percent, followed by Russians at 16.5 percent. Other visitors came from South Korea, Britain, the United States, France, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada.

Revenues from tourism topped 4.2 trillion Vietnamese dong (193 million U.S. dollars), an 18.5 percent increase.

Tran Van Binh, deputy chairman of the Binh Thuan Tourism Association, said Chinese tourists stay in all categories of hotels, from unranked to five-star.

"They also visit Mui Ne during weekdays instead of only on weekends like most local tourists. That is good for the province's tourism," Binh said.

But many Chinese came to the province for sightseeing rather than relaxing on the beach, he said.

"Many of them visited Mui Ne for the first time and it is important to make them return," he stated.

Vietnam welcomed more than 593,500 international visitors in July, a 12-percent increase over June. But the number of international visitors so far this year has reduced to 4.4 million, a 9.4-percent drop from last year. Endi