Last year some 521,666 business tourists visited Vietnam, up 11.4 per cent on 2003 when it was battling SARS.

The figure is more than 200,000 higher than a decade ago.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates business travel accounted for around US$796 million in tourism receipts for Vietnam in 2004. By 2014, the WTTC estimates this will rise to around US$1.8 billion.

Heavy industry, construction, tourism, transport and communications, agriculture, oil and gas are among the industries that attract the largest interest and investments.

In 2005, visitor arrivals appear to have dropped slightly at 94,046 for the first three months of the year, a fall of nearly 20 per cent compared to the same time last year. This is despite overall numbers being up.

However the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said the numbers might not be very accurate as they were based on the arrival cards collected.

The VNAT does not have access to figures on length of stay, expenditure and purpose of visit, but it is working with other related agencies to beef up the collection of statistics.

A more detailed arrivals survey is under way and results are expected to be available in 12 months.