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.

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.

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James Kopenec (centre), an US citizen, has become the 15 millionth foreign tourist visiting Vietnam

Minister of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien stated the event lays the basis for the tourism sector’s bid to become a spearheaded economic sector.

Recently, 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 USD 45 billion 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.

Quang Ninh has recorded a surging tourism growth rate.

It hosted 10.7 million tourists in the first ten months of this year, rising by 25 percent from the same period last year.

Source: VNA