Sydney (VNA) – A delegation led by Ch𒆙airman of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Trung Khanh on June 18 attended a travel symposium and many side activities in Australia's Melbourne city.

At the event, Minister Counsellor of the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia Nghiem Xuan Hoa said the bilateral relations have witnessed strong development in recent years, notably the establishment of the strategic comprehensive partnership in March. In their joint statement, their leaders agreed to seek opportunities to spur tourism development, he continued. Hoa pointed to advantages to promote tourism cooperation between the two countries, including the growing bilateral relations, Australian tourists' great interest in Vietnam and vice versa, and joint efforts in forging tourism cooperation. For his part, Khanh said Vietnam is striving to turn tourism into a key economic sector, adding over the past two years, its tourism industry is bouncing back after the COVID-19 pandemic with remarkable achievements. The country's tourism industry and destinations have been honoured with prestigious international awards. Particularly, in the first five months of 2024, it welcomed 213,000 Australian visitors, an increase of 35% over the same period last year, making Australia the seventh largest source of tourists to Vietnam. Australian Senator Raff Ciccone said Vietnam is a key market in Australia's diversification of tourism markets. To better understand the Vietnamese market and serve tourists from the Southeast Asian nation, Raff said the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) is coordinating with the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) to organise a programme themed "Vietnam Host" in the next few months, and include Vietnam into the list of Australia's important tourism markets, together with China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Indonesia. He called the Australia – Vietnam Travel Symposium a good opportunity for two sides to learn about each other's market and promote the collaboration. After the symposium, tourism businesses and agencies of Vietnam and Australia joined a business meeting and two relevant discussions./.