HANOI — China is seen as the most important market for Vietnamese tourism, said the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) on Tuesday.

According to the VNAT, in March alone, Vietnam is expected to welcome some 297.915 Chinese tourists, up 39.2 percent year-on-year.

Last year, Vietnam also saw high growth in Chinese arrivals, with 2.7 million person-times and up 51 percent year-on-year. In 2010-2016 period, Vietnam witnessed average annual growth of 20 percent in the number of Chinese tourists.

Other cooperation areas between Vietnam and China have yielded crucial outcomes as Chinese companies have offered chartered flights bringing Chinese tourists to Vietnam and two countries' airlines continue to launch new air routes and increase flight frequency between their localities, assessed the VNAT on Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA.

In January-March period, Vietnam is forecast to receive over 3.2 million person-times of international tourists, up 29 percent year-on-year.

The administration attributes the growth to numerous tourism promotion activities that Vietnam has implemented since the beginning of 2017, including participation in 2017 ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation and Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition, one of the world's five biggest travel fairs, among others.