Their revenue per room available grew by 5.4 percent from 2017 to $83.4, according the newly-released Hotel Survey 2019 by global consulting firm Grant Thornton.

Kenneth Atkinson, senior board adviser of Grant Thornton Vietnam, said the average occupancy rate at five-star hotels continued to be high at 75.6 percent, up 0.5 percentage point.

With demand increasing, hotels raised their tariffs by 4.1 percent to $112 per day, he added.

The report said leisure travelers, tour groups and corporate travelers continued to be the three largest categories of guests, together accounting for 76 percent.

But the rate of MICE guests (meetings, incentives, conference and exhibits) decreased from 7.6 percent in 2017 to 6.8 percent last year.

The majority of customers, 82.5 percent, were foreign tourists from Asia, Europe and North America. But the number of Vietnamese guests declined by 1.7 percentage points after increasing briefly in 2014-16.

There were 152 five-star hotels last year, a year-on-year increase by 34, with 51,800 rooms, up 50 percent, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

International arrivals were up 19.9 percent to 15.5 million in 2018, while the number of domestic tourists rose by 9.3 percent to 80 million, it added.