HANOI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam saw 2.69 million international arrivals in the first three months, surging almost 30 times compared to the same period in 2022 with the country's full reopening to foreign visitors since the middle of March last year, Vietnam News reported on Thursday.

During the period, foreign arrivals to Vietnam by air accounted for 89.8 percent of the total, followed by road with 9 percent and sea routes with 1.2 percent, respectively, the General Statistics Office said.

Most of the arrivals were from Asia with around 72 percent, the data showed.

Vietnam's tourism industry continued to show signs of recovery in the first quarter with arrivals reaching 60 percent of pre-pandemic levels. The country received 4.5 million foreign visitors in the first quarter of 2019, paving the way for the tourism industry to welcome a record 18 million international arrivals and earn more than 30.2 billion U.S. dollars for the year.

Despite being one of the first Southeast Asian countries to fully reopen its doors to foreign visitors, Vietnam received only 3.7 million arrivals last year, around 20 percent of the pre-pandemic levels.

To stimulate tourism to boost economic growth, the government has recently approved the plan to waive tourist visa requirements for more countries and permit an extended length of stay for international travelers.

Vietnam targets to receive 8 million foreign arrivals, earning about 27 billion U.S. dollars in revenue this year.