The number of Chinese tourists to Vietnam is expected to reach 403,663 person-times in February, up 85 percent year-on-year, said Vietnam's General Statistics Office (GSO) Monday.

Chinese visitors thus make up the largest proportion of international tourists to Vietnam during the month, according to GSO.

In the past five years, the number of Chinese tourists to Vietnam has been on instant rise, marking the biggest market of tourists to Vietnam, the office added.

In Feb. alone, Vietnam is likely to welcome nearly 1.2 million person-times of foreign tourists, up 20 percent against the previous month and 42 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, in the first two months of 2017, Vietnam is projected to receive over 2.2 million international visitors, up 33 percent from the same period last year, marking the first time Vietnam has received more than one million foreign visitors per month, said GSO.

The sector is expected to receive 11.5 million foreign visitors and 66 million domestic travelers, generating 460 trillion Vietnamese dong (20.3 billion U.S. dollars) this year.

The sector also aims to receive 17-20 million international tourists and serve 82 million domestic visitors by 2020, contributing 10 percent to gross domestic product. Tourism revenue is expected to reach some 35 billion U.S. dollars by then.