Attending the meeting, on the Vietnam side were Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, Chairman of VNAT; leaders of a number of units under VNAT; on the Australia side were Ms. Philippa King, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Policy and Programs, Austrade; Mr. Andrew Hogg, Executive General Manager of Eastern Markets and Aviation, Tourism Australia; Mr. David Cavanough, Director, Vietnam & Cambodia Economic Section, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) with advisors and senior members.

Speaking at the meeting, VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh said, in recent years, tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Australia has been given serious attention and has shown positive signs. With substantial interest from both high-level leaders and national tourism organisations, tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Australia is being promoted with increasing participation from industry stakeholders.

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh speaking at the meeting (Photo: VNAT)

In 2023, Viet Nam welcomed 390 thousand Australian visitor arrivals, a 2.7 fold increase compared to the previous year, and surpassing the 2019 pre-pandemic level by 2%. We are witnessing a continuous growth trend of Australians visiting Vietnam in 2024: from January to May, 213 thousand Australian visitor arrivals visited Vietnam, a rise of 35% compared to the same period last year. Currently, Australia ranks the 7^th source markets for inbound tourism to Vietnam. Along with that, in 2023, there were 166,630 visitor arrivals from Vietnam to Australia, an increase of 35% compared to 2019, Vietnam is the only tourist market in Southeast Asia that has increased visitors coming to Australia after the pandemic.

Vietnam highly appreciates Austrade for its recent tourism projects implemented in Vietnam.

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh believes that one of the most important drivers to foster tourist exchanges between the two countries is travel facilitation. Therefore, airlines from Vietnam have opened new flight routes post-pandemic to increase tourist flows from various cities in Australia. Vietnam also applies an online visa scheme for Australian tourists, which reduces the visa processing time to only 3-5 days. Taking this opportunity, VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh also proposed that Australia consider easing visa application procedures and reducing processing times for Vietnamese tourists, to encourage more visitors to Australia.

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh suggested at this meeting, in addition to discussing the outcomes of both sides’ tourism projects, future actions that can facilitate mutual tourist exchange between the two countries should be brought to the table.

(Photo: VNAT)

Updating the Australian tourism situation, Ms. Philippa King, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Policy and Programs, Austrade, stated, in recent times, Australian tourism has focused on important activities such as developing tourism human resources, applying information technology in tourism, developing infrastructure, developing and diversifying markets as well as improving the quality of tourism products.

In Australia's National Strategy for Tourism Development, the goal is to develop sustainable and responsible tourism. Besides, Australian tourism also has tourism projects for young people and a number of other projects. Currently, Australian tourism is developing a tourism development plan for the next period, from 2025 - 2027. Australian tourism is also facing a number of challenges in terms of workforce, accommodation, business support activities as well as building resilience to tourism risks, climate change, flight network…

According to Mr. Andrew Hogg, Executive General Manager of Eastern Markets and Aviation, Tourism Australia, the goal of Australian tourism is to focus on developing MICE tourism, attracting long-stay and high-spending tourists. In addition, Australia will also focus on developing a tourism cooperation network with domestic and international partners. Currently, Australia has a system of tourism representative offices in 15 countries.

Updating on Vietnam tourism, the Head of the International Relations Division (VNAT) said, Vietnam identifies tourism as a key economic sector, significantly contributing to job creation, improving livelihoods, alleviating poverty, attracting investment, and promoting growth and economic restructuring.

Overview of the meeting (Photo: VNAT)

In 2024, Vietnam tourism set goals to welcome 17-18 million international tourist arrivals; serving 110 million domestic tourist trips; Total tourist receipts is about USD 33 billion.

Regarding the visa policies, Vietnam has renewed and relaxed the visa policies to facilitate international tourists. Thereby, Vietnam grants visa exemptions to tourists from 25 countries, with a stay duration of 45 days for unilateral visa exemption entries. From 15 August 2023, Viet Nam issued e-visa to citizens of all countries and territories worldwide. The e-visa is valid for 90 days, allowing single or multiple entries. Tourists can apply online easily with simple procedures, and applications are processed within 3-5 days.

To Vietnam, Australia has always been one of the key tourist source markets. Flight routes connecting Vietnam and Australia are actively operated by airlines. Currently, Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet have opened direct flights connecting Viet Nam’s major tourism hubs of Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City with major Australian cities including Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide.

Leaders and delegates of both sides taking souvenir photo (Photo: VNAT)

In the framework of the meeting, the two sides discussed the Strengthen Australia-Vietnam Tourism Cooperation (SAVTC). In particular, in 2023, Austrade has assigned Asialink Business (the Asian capacity development research agency under the Australian Government) to carry out a Report with main contents on: (1) Overview of tourism in Vietnam and Australia, (2) Identify opportunities and challenges that promote two-way visitors, (3) Research trends and potential customers of both sides, (4) Give priorities and propose cooperation to promote customer exchange.

In addition, in 2024, the two sides have focused on implementing joint projects such as: Data project with Griffith University; Sustainable Destination Capacity Building Program with Vocational Training Organization of Western Australia. The Australian side also updated that the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) is developing an online training program for Australian businesses about the Vietnam tourism market, expected to deploy in the third quarter of 2024. Austrade will introduce this activity as a new initiative to promote two-way customer exchange.

Appreciating the results of tourism cooperation projects between Vietnam and Australia implemented under the coordination of Austrade, VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh indicated, VNAT has actively collaborated and supported these projects, as well as communicating them to local authorities and businesses in Vietnam. Besides, he also proposed a number of contents to organise cooperative activities, thereby promoting tourism development between both sides.

In the framework of the meeting, the two sides agreed to consider continuing to organise bilateral meetings between the tourism management agencies of the two sides in the near future, and discussed the possibility of signing a Vietnam -Australia tourism cooperation document to enhance activities to promote tourist exchange, promotion and implementation of joint tourism projects.

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh gifting souvenir to Ms. Philippa King, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Policy and Programs Group, Austrade (Photo: VNAT)

Ms. Philippa King, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Policy and Programs Group, Austrade gifting souvenir to VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh (Photo: VNAT)

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