An estimated 617,895 international arrivals was recorded in Vietnam in March, down 10.4% from February and 12.9% from the same period last year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

Of the figure, 538,554 came by air, down 10.2% from February, while arrivals by land were 70,096, a fall of 19.7%.

An official from the VNAT’s Tourism Market Department attributed the fall to a sharp drop in the number of vacationers from the two big tourist sources, China and Russia.

Since late 2014, Vietnam witnessed a downward number of holiday-makers from Russia, which always stands among the top 10 tourist markets of Vietnam.

This March saw a month-on-month decline of 15.8% in Russian arrivals to the country to 27,950, which also represented a 29.3% decrease year on year.

Chinese arrivals in March reached only 103.670, down 18.3% over February and 45.6% over the same period last year.

An upward foreign arrival trend is expected to be achieved in April given it hosts a number of big celebrations.