According to the Khanh Hoa provincial Tourism Department, the total tourist arrivals in Khanh Hoa have surpassed 7 million since the beginning of this year, up 13.3 percent from 2018. Up to 3.5 million of them were foreigners, up 27.5 percent. Tourism revenue was estimated at 27.1 trillion VND (1.17 billion USD), up 24.2 percent year-on-year. Permanent Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Dac Tai said it is the result of the successful organisation of National Tourism Year 2019 with numerous cultural, arts and sport activities. Such events have made practical contributions to development cooperation between cities and provinces, domestic and foreign enterprises, promoting global integration, thus improving the stature of Vietnam and Khanh Hoa in particular. Themed "Nha Trang - Colours of the Sea", the year aims to introduce the beauty of seas, islands and special tourist products of Khanh Hoa, creating a tourism linkage in coastal areas, contributing to the sustainable growth of tourism in Vietnam, as well as socio-economic development in the following years. Activities during National Tourism Year 2019 are held across the country and Khanh Hoa in particular. Accordingly, Khanh Hoa hosted more than 10 major events and 50 relevant activities. Dubbed “land of agarwood and sea of swiftlets”, Khanh Hoa popularised its potentials and strength in sea and island landscapes, outstanding tourist products such as resorts, diving, sea sports, mud bathing, cultural activities on national and international scale. This year, Khanh Hoa organised the ninth Nha Trang sea festival, Miss Universe Vietnam 2019, and the final round of Miss ASEAN Tourism.

It held major activities within the programme’s framework, including the Nha Trang-Khanh Hoa Sea Festival 2019, the Khanh Hoa𒁃 National Food Festival, and the Hong Kong-Nha Trang boat race.

Khanh Hoa has long been known as a major tourist hub of the country, with the poetic Nha Trang being named one of the most beautiful bays in the world and Bai Dai tourist area shaping up next to Cam Ranh Bay. Blessed by nature and with continuous efforts, Khanh Hoa has so far built its own brand after sustainable tourism values and foundations were consolidated. Khanh Hoa also has a wealth of experience in organising national and international events. Most notably, the biennial sea festival, launched in 2003, has become a destination for visitors every summer, in odd years. The national and international beauty pageants are held the most in Khanh Hoa compared to other localities nationwide, including three editions of the Miss Universe Vietnam pageant, and the Miss Universe 2008. With a coastline of over 380km, bays, lagoons, islands, golden sand beaches, Khanh Hoa has peerless beauty, mild climate and warm sunshine all year round.   Additionally, Khanh Hoa has relatively modern and synchronous transport infrastructure, including waterway, road, railway and aviation. The province is now home to 735 lodging facilities with over 38,600 rooms, 111 of them meet 3-5 star standards with more than 20,028 rooms, reaching 51.8 percent. It eyes to welcome 8.5 million tourists, including 3.5 million foreigners by 2020, and earn 70 trillion VND (2.99 billion USD) in tourism revenue. At the 26th World Travel Awards (WTA), Vietnam was honoured as the “World’s Leading Heritage Destination 2019”. The country was chosen as Asia’s Leading Culinary Destination at the WTA awards for Asia and Oceania last October and also received the World’s Best Golf Destination 2019 award at the international World Golf Awards held in the UAE the same month./.