The famous resort town of Nha Trang in the central province of Khanh Hoa came in sixth on the list of 10 most searched travel destinations by Australian tourists, according to Skycanner, the largest online travel booking site in Australia that helps people find cheap flights and hotels for holidays.
Vietnam’s third largest city Da Nang ranked 9th on the list, which was topped by Kiev in Ukraine.
A Skycanner survey found a year-on-year surge of 33 percent in the search frequencies of its readers and users for Nha Trang and 23 percent for Da Nang.
The online booking site says volcano eruptions and earthquakes have deterred Australian tourists from returning to Bali, while recent terrorist attacks have pushed the U.K.’s London off its high perch.
Da Nang rings in the new year 2018 with a fireworks party on Han River. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong |
The rest of the top 10 places are: Thessaloniki in Greece, Russia’s St Petersburg, Liston and Porto in Portugal, Nice in France, Palawan in the Philippines and Medellin in Colombia.
Australians are the seventh biggest group of foreigners visiting Vietnam and among the top spenders in the country.
Vietnam last year received 387,000 Australians, surging 4.5 percent from the previous year.
Vietnam has tried to relax its entrance procedures with an e-visa policy that has just added 35 more countries and territories, raising the list of beneficiaries to 80.
Da Nang, which has won global attention with its annual international fireworks competition and its spectacular Golden Bridge, has also been improving its infrastructure in transport, healthcare, commerce and services to welcome the higher volume of tourists.
Nha Trang, endowed with long stretches of beautiful beaches, has emerged as the top holiday destination in central Vietnam in recent years.