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

Attending the Symposium were Mr. Nghiem Xuan Hoa, Minister Counsellor, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Vietnam to Australia​; leaders of a number of units under VNAT; Vietnamese tourism businesses.

On the Australia side were Senator Raff Ciccone; 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); Ms. Philippa King, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Policy and Programs, Austrade; representatives of localities, businesses, tourism experts,...

Senator Raff Ciccone speaking at the Symposium (Photo: VNAT)

Speaking at the event, Senator Raff Ciccone said, the Symposium with the theme “Building a sustainable tourism partnership”. The Australia-Vietnam Travel Symposium is an important event to promote the tourism industry of the two countries.

Senator Raff Ciccone stressed, upgrading the relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has helped Vietnam and Australia promote economic development and expand cooperation in many socio-economic fields. Vietnam and Australia are actively promoting this cooperative relationship through the Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy between Vietnam and Australia, to become one of the top 10 trading partners and double two-way investment, in which tourism is one of the areas of investment interest and a priority area of ​​the strategy.

The Senator expresses his joy when both countries are now reaping the benefits of more frequent and direct flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. By the year ending March 2024 there were 178,900 arrivals from Vietnam to Australia, up 59% on pre-COVID levels. Vietnam is now ranked 12th for arrivals to Australia.

Senator Raff Ciccone hopes that the good cooperative relationship between Australia and Vietnam in the field of tourism will increasingly develop, opening up many new opportunities of cooperation for tourism businesses of the two countries.

Overview of the Symposium (Photo: VNAT)

Sending his warm welcome to delegates and distinguished guests attending at the Symposium, VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh emphasised, the Symposium is an excellent opportunity for stakeholders in the tourism sector of the two countries to meet, exchange ideas, and strengthen cooperation in the field of tourism.

The Vietnamese government places great efforts on developing tourism into a key economic sector. Over two years after the resuming, Vietnam’s tourism industry is back on track of growth, with many notable achievements. In 2023, Vietnam tourism overcame numerous challenges and exceeded its targets: Welcomed over 12.6 million international visitor arrivals, with domestic tourists reaching over 108 million trips, and generated nearly 28 billion USD in total tourist receipts. The tourism industry and many destinations in Vietnam have been honoured with prestigious international awards, being recognised among the world’s top destinations, thereby affirming the brand, attractiveness, and quality of Vietnam tourism.

Particularly, since August 2023, Vietnam has implemented e-visas for citizens of all countries and territories with a maximum stay of up to 90 days, allowing multiple entries. At the same time, the duration of stay for visa-exemption countries has been extended to 45 days. This open policy has been warmly welcomed by the international community, becoming a crucial lever to boost the growth of visitors to Vietnam. Since the second half of 2023, international arrivals to Vietnam have consistently exceeded one million per month. The vibrant tourism activities in the first half of 2024 also signal a strong year of recovery for the industry: In the first five months, Vietnam welcomed approximately 7.6 million international visitor arrivals, a 65% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

The Symposium attracting a large number of delegates attending (Photo: VNAT)

In recent years, tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Australia has received significant attention from high-level leaders. During the first official visit to Australia by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in March 2024, Vietnam and Australia reached a new milestone in bilateral relations by upgrading to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. During this important visit, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his expectations for the development of five key areas with the upgraded relations, one of which is “stronger tourism and labour cooperation”.

In 2023, Vietnam welcomed 390 thousand Australian tourist arrivals, surpassing the pre-pandemic level of 2019 and placing Australia among the top 10 inbound markets for Vietnam. We are witnessing a strong continuous growth trend of Australians visiting Vietnam in 2024: From January to May, 213 thousand Australian visitor arrivals visited Vietnam, a 35% increase compared to the same period last year, boosting Australia to rank as the 7th largest source market of Vietnam. In 2024, Vietnam aims to welcome 17 to 18 million international visitor arrivals, essentially recovering to pre-pandemic levels, and VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh believes that the Australian market will play a crucial role in achieving this goal.

With the special attention from high-level leaders and the active tourism bilateral cooperation and promotion activities by relevant agencies, namely Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, Austrade, Tourism Australia, and local authorities, VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh shows his confident that tourism cooperation between our two countries will reach new significant milestones in the near future.

Mr. Nghiem Xuan Hoa, Minister Counsellor, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Vietnam to Australia speaking at the Symposium (Photo: VNAT)

Highly appreciates the Symposium, Mr. Nghiem Xuan Hoa, Minister Counsellor, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Vietnam to Australia said, recent years witnessed the robust development of Vietnam-Australia relationship which reached the new height early this year with the framework of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (in short CSP). The CSP is characterised by the six “further”, including: -Further strategic and political trust; -Further concrete and effective economic, trade and investment cooperation; -Further cooperation on science and technology, innovation, digital and green transformation; -Further cooperation on culture, education, environment and climate change issues; -Further people-to-people exchange and linkages; -Further understanding and sharing on defence and security cooperation.

This symposium is an important concrete action to contribute to realising those “furthers”. It is also an important action outlined in the work plan of the Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy between Vietnam and Australia.

Ms. Martine Letts, Group CEO, Asialink speaking at the Symposium (Photo: VNAT)

At the Symposium, Ms. Martine Letts, Group CEO, Asialink updated a number of information related to Vietnam and Australia tourism.

Vietnam has the potential to be a strategic market for the Australian travel industry given the Australian Government’s intention to deepen ties with the Southeast Asia (SEA) region both through enhancing supply and demand side activities.

Appreciating Vietnam's tourism products, Ms. Martine Letts said Australian tourists love to experience eco-tourism, nature, and community tourism. Therefore, the rise in eco-tourism offerings in Vietnam aligns well with the Australian trend towards responsible and sustainable travel experiences.

Discussion panel at the Symposium (Photo: VNAT)

In the framework of the Symposium, 2 discussion panels took place: Panel 1: Promoting Vietnamese tourists to Australia; Panel 2: Promoting Australian tourists to Vietnam. At each discussion panel, delegates listened, discussed and shared content related to promoting cooperation between tourism management agencies, localities, tourism businesses and airlines. This is also an opportunity for both sides to update new information on policies, tourism products, tours, tourism infrastructure…

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh, Senator Raff Ciccone and Minister Counselor, Deputy Chief of Mission of Vietnamese Embassy in Australia Nghiem Xuan Hoa (Photo: VNAT)

Leaders and delegates taking souvenir photo (Photo: VNAT)

Tourism Information Technology Center