Khanh Hoa Province in south-central Vietnam are striving to attract Australian tourists by adopting a number of measures, including promoting special tourism products and facilitating the launch of direct flights between the coastal province and Australia, said a local tourism official.

Besides, the province will send a working delegation to Australia to seek potential business partners and promote tourism, according to Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, head of the provincial Department of Tourism.

The provincial tourism authority is working with airlines on a plan to open a direct air route connecting Australia and Khanh Hoa, she said.

In late May this year, Khanh Hoa received positive feedback from Australian travel companies which joined a fam trip to study tourism products in the Vietnamese locality, such as Sealife yachts, Kong Forest, and the hot spring resort I-Resort.

“This will pave the way to promote local tourism and connect Vietnamese travel firms with their Australian peers,” Thanh said.

Since the beginning of the year, the short travel distance between Vietnam and Australia, low airfares and travel costs have hiked the number of Australian visitors returning to Khanh Hoa, according to some tourism businesses operating in the province.

A representative of Alma Resort, located on Bai Dai Beach in the province’s Cam Lam District, said the number of Australians accounted for over 15 percent of the resort’s total volume of guests, just after South Koreans and Vietnamese.

The resort also received a rising number of bookings by Australians for stays scheduled for next month.

They made early bookings in order to have vacations in warmer destinations as the winter in Australia is often due between June and August, the resort representative explained.

Meanwhile, this is the best time to travel to Khanh Hoa, a popular beach destination in Vietnam, as it is sunny during the given period.

The representative added that most of the Australian guests made bookings for family trips. They are mainly middle-aged people with high incomes.

Even though visitors from Australia are increasingly returning to the province, the figure has yet to reach the pre-pandemic level.

There are no direct flights connecting Australia with the Vietnamese coastal province.

Two local carriers Vietjet Air and Bamboo Airways only operate flights between Australian cities and major Vietnamese hubs like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Therefore, the tourism sector in Khanh Hoa needs to boost tourism promotion events and propose visa waivers for visitors from Australia in order to pave the way for local carriers to open new direct air routes linking the two destinations, said Phan Dinh Thao, CEO at HTS International Travel, which is a travel subsidiary of HTS International, an Australia-based travel and trade multinational.

If the above-mentioned bottlenecks are removed, Khanh Hoa will attract more Australian tourists, Thao said.

Christina Nguyen, director of the travel firm Zazen Travel, revealed that Australian visitors mainly opt for tours to the countryside to experience local culture.

Due to their short stays, Australians prefer one-day trips to different parts of the province, including the best-selling tours to mango orchards in Cam Lam.

Zazen Travel recently visited Thailand to brief its business partners on mango orchard tours, so as to make it a signature tour for Australian visitors to Vietnam.

Tours to the countryside need to highlight the authentic vibe of rural areas through their atmosphere, local food specialties, and cultural experiences to woo tourists, the Zazen Travel leader suggested.

Data from the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism indicated that the country welcomed some 383,500 Australian visitors in 2019.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic then slashed the number of Australian visitors to the country to around 92,200 in 2020.

When air travel resumed after the pandemic was put under control, Vietnam saw a rising number of tourists from Australia, serving nearly 184,800 Australians in the first half of 2023.​

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