HANOI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's tourism earnings hit 3.6 billion U.S. dollars in the first two months of this year, up 12 percent from a year earlier, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said on Friday.

Hanoi, capital of Vietnam. (Photo: CFP)

Even though the number of international visitors has not quite recovered to pre-pandemic levels, the Southeast Asian country is enjoying a much-needed boost due to its full reopening.

Vietnam received nearly 1.8 million international passengers, mainly through airports in January and February, about 58 percent of the figure recorded in the same period of 2019, according to the General Statistics Office.

During the period, foreign arrivals to Vietnam by air accounted for 90.7 percent of the total, followed by road with 8.6 percent and sea routes with 0.7 percent, respectively.

South Korea remained the largest source market in the first two months, with 560,000 visitor arrivals, followed by the United States with 148,000 and Thailand with 97,000.

Vietnam targets 8 million foreign arrivals this year and expects its tourism revenue to hit 27.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, up 31 percent from last year when the tourism activity earned the country 20.8 billion U.S. dollars, said the country's tourism administration.