Retail sales of goods, services increase by 8.5% in February: GSO

The figure contributed to a year-on-year rise of 8.1% in total retail sales of goods and revenue from consumer services in the first two months of this year to 1.03 quadrillion VND.

Of the total, retail sales of goods were estimated at 798.3 trillion VND, accounting for 77.4% of the total and up 6.8% over the same period last year (up 4.5% if excluding the price factor).

Of which, retail revenue of food and foodstuffs rose by 10.8%, while that of household appliances and tools was up 18.1%, garment 9.8%, vehicles (except cars) 1.8%, and cultural and educational products 16.5%.

Particularly, revenue from accommodation and catering services rose by 14%, while that from travel services surged by 35.8%.

Thanks to the favourable visa policies, tourism stimulus programmes as well as the efforts of the Government and people, the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam in February reached more than 1.5 million, up 1.3% over the previous month and 64.1% over the same period last year. The number for the first two months of this year hit more than 3 million, an increase of 68.7% over the same period last year.

As a result, revenue from tourism services in the first two months of this year reached 9 trillion VND.

Meanwhile, revenue from other services was estimated at 105.9 trillion VND, accounting for 10.2% of the total and increasing 9.7% over the same period last year.

Economists held that the shopping season during the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival was a leverage for retailers to boost domestic demand and increase revenue right from the beginning of the year. The business outcomes in Tet also showed the consumption trend of the year, helping enterprises decide their market development strategies and business plans for the year, they added.