Customers shop for fresh fruit and vegetables at AEON MALL in Hanoi’s Long Bien district (Photo: VNA)




Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – The country’s
total retail sales and services revenue reached 2.24 quadrillion VND (98.6
billion USD) in the first seven months of this year, a year on year increase of
10 percent.



The revenue, excluding the price factor,
gained a year-on-year increase of 8.7 percent in the first seven months, 0.3
percentage points higher than the growth rate in the first seven months of
2016, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).



Of these, revenue of retail sales reached
the highest at 1.68 quadrillion VND (74 billion USD), accounting for the
three-fourths of the total revenue, a year-on-year surge of 20 percent.



GSO’s domestic trade expert Vu Manh Ha said
growth in purchasing power of the people during the first seven months was due
to surge in demand for accommodation and catering services in July because of
high school graduation examinations.



In addition, the volume of foreign and
domestic tourists rose sharply in the summer months, Ha said. Therefore, the
revenue from accommodation and catering services in July went up by 11.3 percent
while the revenue from tourism and travelling services managed the highest
growth rate at 15.1 percent.



[Infographics: Vietnam’s annual retail sales growth projected to reach 11.9 percent]



During the first seven months, the total
revenue from accommodation and catering services stood at 278.6 trillion VND,
an increase of 11.6 percent against the revenue in the same period last year.



The increase was higher than the growth
rate of 8.8 percent in the first seven months of 2016.



The revenue from the tourism and travel
sector showed a growth rate of 9.5 percent year-on-year in the first seven
months of 2017 to 19.8 trillion VND.-VNA