WA tourism boost with Vietnam
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Direct flights between Western Australia and Vietnam were a leading focus in Tourism Minister Roger Cook's four-day trade mission to Vietnam this week.
Deputy Premier and Tourism Minister Roger Cook spoke at a conference in Vung Tau yesterday outlining broader plans to strengthen ties between the two countries.
Coinciding with Mr Cook's mission to Vietnam, Perth Airport and the WA Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation supported a delegation of Perth-based travel agents to visit Ba Ria Vung Tau.
The delegation explored the tourism offerings of the region and attended the tourism conference, contributing their tourism experience to the discussion.
In late 2023, the state government will host a reciprocal program for a delegation of Vietnamese tourism specialists to visit and explore WA’s tourism offerings.
Exploring direct flights between Perth and Vietnam was a leading focus for the ministerial mission this week, as it would enable increased tourism and trade opportunities.
Mr Cook and Tourism Western Australia attended meetings with Vietnam-based airlines Bamboo Airways, VietJet Air and Vietnam Airlines.
Mr Cook said tourism was an important part of the economy and implementing direct flights would boost this for both WA and Vietnam.
“We want to continue to showcase WA,” he said.
“We want people to be able to come visit and one of the key ways to do that is through strong aviation links.
“Vietnam is a very important growing market, and we’re keen to work with local aviation partners to support direct flights.”
Perth Airport Aviation Business Development senior vice-president Stephanie Juszkiewicz said the implementation of direct flights would support existing demand.
“The market size of travellers between Perth and Vietnam was close to 80,000 people in 2019 and visitors from Vietnam to Perth had been growing by twelve per cent before the pandemic,” she said.
“There is a great opportunity with a non-stop flight to expand the market with more tourists, international students, business travellers, trade and investment in both directions, as well as making it easier for friends and family to visit each other more often.”
The Ba Ria Vung Tau region in comparison to Ho Chi Minh City.
A new international airport is being built halfway between Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria Vung Tau to direct more tourists to the latter region.
Long Thanh International Airport is scheduled to begin operation in late 2025 or early 2026 and all international flights will land here instead of Tan Son Nhat International Airport.
Ba Ria Vung Tau People’s Committee vice-chair Le Ngoc Khanh said tourism was one of the primary pillars of economy development.
“Ba Ria Vung Tau is a location that will attract a lot of people from inside and outside the country,” he said.
“The MoU that has been activated will allow the two operators of WA and Ba Ria Vung Tau to create ideas and solutions for deeper understanding and linkages.”
Vietnam is WA’s third largest trade market without a direct flight route, after India and the US, so direct flights would offer commercially viable options for freight opportunity too.
Mr Cook opened the new Invest and Trade WA office in Ho Chi Minh City on March 8 as part of the state government's expanded international invest and trade network.