Da Nang (VNA) – The Da Nang Airport in thecentral coastal city of the same name on January 1 welcomed the first internationalflight of this year which carried 180 visitors from Hong Kong (China).

The tourists on Flight UO550 of the Hong Kong Expressarrived at the airport at 7:50 am to a welcome ceremony consisting of artperformances, and flower and gift presentation.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 Chinese tourists arrived at TienSa port in the afternoon the same day on board of the Italian-registered CostaAtlantica cruiser as the first foreign visitors coming to Da Nang this year ona sea route.

Leading officials of the municipal tourism authority saidthe arrival of the first foreign visitors on the first day of the new yearmarks the fine start of the city’s tourism industry in 2019. They said theyhope the tour will leave deep imprints on the mind of the visitors about thefriendly and hospitable locals and scenic sites in the city.

Over the recent years, Da Nang has emerged as an attractivedestination for both foreign and Vietnamese tourists. At the end of last year, thecity had 23 direct air routes with 328 flights per week, or 86 flights morethan the figure in 2017, and welcomed 7,660,000 tourist arrivals, including2,875,000 foreign.

Also last year, Da Nang welcomed 100 arrivals of cruisers toTien Sa port with 145,000 visitors, a surge of 66% in the number of cruise touristsregistered a year earlier.-VNA