HANOI, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam welcomed a record number of international arrivals in 2019, reaching over 18 million, up 16.2 percent against 2018, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism on Friday.

File photo: VCG

Between January and December, nearly 14.4 million foreign visitors to Vietnam are from Asia, up 19.1 percent; approximately 2.2 million from Europe, up 6.4 percent; about 973,800 from the Americas, mainly from the United States, up 7.7 percent; 432,400 from Oceania, mostly from Australia, down 1.2 percent; and some 48,000 from Africa, up 12.2 percent.

Specifically, Vietnam received more than 5.8 million Chinese visitors, increasing 16.9 percent, and accounting for 32.2 percent of the total international arrivals in the period, said the administration.

Vietnam aims to host 20.5 million international visitors with total revenues of 36 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, Vietnam News Agency quoted the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as saying in late 2019.