Each Australian tourist spent VND36.6 million ($1,570) while traveling in Vietnam last year, according to the Vietnam Tourism Annual Report published by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Russians ranked second with VND33.9 million ($1,460) per trip, followed by Americans ($1,395), South Koreans ($1,120) and Brits ($1,094).

China dominated Vietnam’s tourism sector last year with 4.9 million arrivals but its tourists spent an average of only VND19 million ($818) per trip, coming in eighth among top 10 high-spending tourism markets, followed by Malaysia ($750) and Thailand  ($715).

The average spending of international tourists in Vietnam last year was $1,065.

Australia has always been among Vietnam’s top 10 feeder markets. The country welcomed 387,000 Australian tourists last year, a year-on-year increase of 4.5 percent. 

Vietnam is in the midst of a tourism boom with a record high 15.5 million foreign arrivals in 2018, up 20 percent year-on-year. Last year, the country raked in revenues of VND383 trillion ($16.5 billion) from foreign visitors, accounting for 60 percent of total tourism revenues, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Tourism last year contributed 8.39 percent to the country’s GDP. The government has targeted making the industry an economic spearhead.

With visa waivers for several countries in Asia and Europe, the tourism industry hopes to welcome around 20 million foreign visitors in 2020. It expects to earn $35 billion in revenues per year by 2020, contributing 10 percent to the country’s GDP.

The government has stepped up efforts to influence foreign tourists into returning to the country through relaxed visa policies and other incentives.

Based on the average annual growth rate of foreign arrivals, Vietnam is forecast to become a leading travel destination in the next five years, according to the latest Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2019 - 2023 report released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).