James Kopenec, an US citizen, has become the 15 millionth foreign tourist visiting Vietnam on December 19.
Upon Kopenec’s arrival at the Ha Long international port, a special welcome ceremony was held for him and the other two lucky guests, who came out of the cruise before and after him – Annita De Vriesere from Belgium and Masahiko Nagaishi from Japan, respectively.
According to a report on VNS, a state-owned media, the three, visiting world heritage site Ha Long Bay, are on board a cruise trip, which travels through Singapore, Thailand’s Laem Chabang port city, Vietnam’s Phu My, Chan May and Ha Long, and Hong Kong.
Recently, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a decision to establish a state-owned tourism development fund, following his approval of a project to restructure local tourism to turn it into a spearhead economic sector and make Vietnam one of the nations with the most developed tourism sector in Southeast Asia.
The project sets a target of 45 billion USD in tourism revenue by 2025. The sector is expected to serve 32 million foreign tourists and more than 130 million domestic visitors, contribute more than 10 percent to GDP and create 6 million jobs.