HANOI, Jan. 12 -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung allowed Vietnam's northern Quang Ninh Province to begin trans-border self-drive tours between its Mong Cai City and China's Dongxing border City in within one year.

The tours will be taken via Mong Cai international border gate in Quang Ninh, some 120 km east of capital Hanoi. The provincial people's committee assigned the Hong Gai tourism and service company, to operate the scheme.

After one year, the committee will make report to the prime minister over the result of the scheme, according to an official online newspaper of Quang Ninh Province on Tuesday.

The Vietnamese cabinet chief also requested the committee to work with Vietnam's Ministry of Transport in licensing Chinese self-drive passenger vehicles entering Vietnam's Mong Cai City for tourism.

In 2015, Vietnam welcomed nearly eight million person-times of foreign arrivals, of which China remained the largest source of visitors to Vietnam with nearly 1.781 million person--times.