The Australia-Vietnam Travel Symposium 2024 takes place in Melbourne, Australia, on June 18, 2024. (Photo: Viet Nga/VOV- Australia)

The event took place amid the growing number of Vietnamese tourists to Australia, up 50% last year with 150,000 visitors.

Philippa King, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), said that tourism is extremely important for the relationship between Australia and Vietnam. Australia and Vietnam have committed at high levels to expanding our relationship with one another.

"We want to see as many Vietnamese visitors to Australia as possible and Vietnam wants to see as many Australians visiting Vietnam as possible. This will enhance understanding of our two countries, our culture, and education." 

Philippa King, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) (Photo: Viet Nga/VOV- Australia)

Participants highlighted Vietnam’s tourism potential which offers interesting cultural experiences, numerous historic relic sites, beautiful beaches, mountains, terraced fields, and nature reserves with rich biodiversity.

Andrew Hogg, Tourism Australia’s Executive General Manager of Eastern Markets and Aviation, said that there were more than 300,000 Australians traveling to Vietnam last year.  

"I travelled to Vietnam myself. I’ve been to Ha Long Bay, HCM City, Hanoi, Da Nang and Nha Trang and I experienced Vietnam myself when I was travelling around. It was a beautiful country. And we know that Vietnamese tourism is very high standard. On the other side, we had more than 150,000 or more than a 50% increase on Vietnamese people coming to Australia."

Nguyen Trung Khanh, Chairman of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism said Vietnam hopes to welcome more Australian tourists and turn Australia into Vietnam’s 7th largest supplier of visitors.