Vietnam welcomed more than one million international visitors in January 2017, as the country started the new year as strongly as it finished 2016.

According to the latest data from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the monthly total of 1,007,238 visitors marked an increase of 23.6% compared to January 2016.

This follows the year-on-year growth of 17.9% experienced in December 2016, which pushed the country’s full-year arrivals total above the 10m mark for the first time.

In January 2017, arrivals from mainland China (+67.9% to 247,621) continued to lead the way in terms of both growth and volume. South Korea (+15.1% to 171,932), the US (+17.2% to 67,262) and Russia (+36.5% to 58,586) also demonstrated strong double-digit growth.

Arrivals to Vietnam by air surged 26.6% to 834,975 in January 2017, accounting for 82.9% of the total.