New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS): Vietnam recorded 12.6 million international visitor arrivals in 2023, a 3.4-fold rise from 2022, according to the latest data released by the country's General Statistics Office.

The number far exceeded the target of 8 million foreign tourists set for the year, but was equivalent to only 70 percent of the pre-pandemic level in 2019, said the office, Xinhua news agency reported.

The foreign tourists were mostly from Asia, at 9.78 million in number, up 3.8 times compared to the previous year, followed by Europe with nearly 1.46 million, up 2.9 times, and Americas with 903,800, up 2.3 times.

Among the foreign visitor arrivals to Vietnam in 2023, nearly 11 million traveled by air, accounting for 86.9 percent of the total and marking an increase of 3.3 times year on year.

Some 1.5 million traveled by land and 126,100 others entered Vietnam by sea routes.

Revenues from accommodation and dining services in 2023 were estimated to reach 673.5 trillion Vietnamese dong (27.7 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 10.8 percent of the country's total revenues from services and retail, marking an increase of 14.7 percent compared to the previous year.