A new direct charter flight is expected to add fuel to the booming Chinese tourism industry in Da Nang.

Chinese tourists in central Viet Nam. (Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Ngoc)

Xinhua News Agency reported Vietjet Air will launch the direct tourist charter flight in January, connecting Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province with the city.

One Airbus 320 will begin departing for Da Nang every week, starting on 12 January 2017.

Direct charter flights now link Viet Nam's third-largest city to destinations in South Korea and Southeast Asia during peak seasons.

The city received nearly 800,000 foreign tourist arrivals in the first six months this year, up 30% from a year ago.

A third of those arrivals were Chinese, according to Da Nang’s tourism department.

Travelers from Viet Nam's northern neighbor tend to head south to Viet Nam's various beach destinations, particularly Nha Trang and Phu Quoc.

Mainland China accounted for 30% of all tourist arrivals to Viet Nam, making it the fastest-growing feeder market after Hong Kong.

More than 2.48 million Chinese citizens visited during the first 11 months of this year, up 54% from the same period last year.

In October, the Chinese Tourism Administration released a top-10 list of favourite destinations for Chinese travelers, that ranked Viet Nam 7^th.

Last Sunday, Bloomberg cited Credit Suisse as estimating that a 30% increase in spending by Chinese tourists could boost Viet Nam’s gross domestic product by nearly one percentage point.

Viet Nam’s economy is expected to expand 6% this year, before speeding up to 6.8% next year.

(Source: VNExpress International)