International Visa cardholders spent VND1.6 trillion ($100.6 million) during their visits to Vietnam in the first quarter of 2006, a year-on-year increase of 21 per cent, reported Visa International in Asia Pacific on July 19.
The growing number of foreign arrivals has boosted payments via Visa cards in the country, Visa said.
The top spenders come from the US, South Korea, Australia, Japan, and France, with their payments making up for 59 per cent of the total.
Regarding the regions, visitors from Pacific-Asia are the biggest consumers, accounting for 41 per cent of total Visa card payments in the country, followed by visitors from the EU with 31 per cent, from the US with 22 per cent, Canada with 4 per cent, and from the mid-Europe, Middle East and Africa with 1 per cent.
Visa quotes the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism as saying that the country received more than one million arrivals in the first quarter of this year, a growth of 16.3 per cent from a year earlier. Visitors from Russia led the foreign arrival list, increasing by 70 per cent on year, followed by South Korea 53 per cent, US 43 per cent, Thailand 36 per cent, Canada 35 per cent, Germany 30 per cent, and Japan 29 per cent.
In-country manager Stuart Tomlinson for Indochina said there was difference in spending between Vietnam and regional countries. Most of Visa cardholders in Vietnam spent their money on hotels, while they spent on retail shops in other countries.
In the first three months of 2006, international visitors made about 584,164 transactions, including 116,086 at places of accommodation, 114,258 at retail and wholesale outlets, 64,290 at restaurants and food merchants.
The biggest spending by Visa cardholders was seen at hotels with payments of $5 million, at miscellaneous retail shops with $3.4 million, and tourist agents with $1.2 million.
Meanwhile, spending at flower and gift, handicraft, and garment retail merchants recorded high growth rate, with respective payments are $4 million, $3.5 million, and $2.4 million.
The average spending per transaction was almost VND2.67 million, or $168, with cardholders from South Korea spending the largest amount, about $237 per transaction, followed by those from China with $233 and from Hong Kong with $214.
In a survey recently conducted by the Deposit Insurance of Vietnam, Visa cards have been rated as the most favorite international debit cards in Vietnam, followed by MasterCard, AMEX, and Discovery.
Visa International has to date partnered with 15 member financial institutions in Vietnam, including four state-owned banks, some key joint stock banks such as ACB, Sacombank and Eximbank. These institutions support and enable over 11,500 local merchants and 1,000 ATMs to accept Visa cards for payment.
VnEconomy
Vietnamese
