Hanoi (VNA) - Airlines transported an estimated 52.2million passengers in 2016, up 29 percent from the previous year, according toa report by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam.

Of them, domestic passengers accounted for 28 million, an increaseof 30 percent.

The report also said patronage of low-cost carriers rosedramatically to around 15 million, or well more than half all domesticpassengers.

The ratio of airline passengers to population rose from 0.5 percentin 2012 to 0.8 percent last year.

Analysts attributed the rise to the strong growth in budgetcarriers such as Vietjet and Jetstar Pacific.

The two no-frills carriers now fly on 50 domestic routes and to 17airports around the country.

But they have also intensified investment in flying tointernational destinations.

Jetstar Pacific and Vietjet fly to places like Hongkong,Guangzhou, Taipei, Siem Reap, Seoul, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, lastyear there were a record number of around 10 million international tourists, ayear-on-year increase of 25 percent.

The tourism industry also served 62 million domestic tourists andearned revenues of 400 trillion VND (17.8 billion USD).

The co-operation between budget airlines and tourism companies insetting up attractive tours at reasonable costs has contributed to growingtourism.

The industry has set a target of 11.5 million international and 66million domestic tourists this year and revenues of 460 trillion VND.

The tourism industry’s ambitious goals suggest that the Vietnameseaviation industry would continue to have the opportunity to grow.

The country has been identified as one of seven fastest growingairline markets in the world.-VNA