(for illustration only. Photo: VNN)

Overseas Visa cardholders spent 776.4 million USD (16.4 trillion VND) while visiting Vietnam in 2012, a 12.3 percent increase from the previous year.

Overall, the total number of Visa transactions made by overseas visitors surged 15.5 percent to 4.8 million in 2012, according to the latest Visa Travel Snapshot Vietnam report.

Visitors from the United States recorded the highest amount of spending at 2.1 trillion VND (99.9 million USD), a rise of 9.6 percent from 1.9 trillion VND (91.2 million USD) in 2011. This was followed by visitors from the Republic of Korea with 1.7 trillion VND (82.6 million USD) and Australia with 82.1 million USD.

"The growing card usage among visiting travellers points to Vietnam gradually becoming a more developed electronic payments market as foreign travellers demonstrated a greater level of trust towards the payment system in the country," said Lorijon Bacchi, Visa country manager for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.    

Source: VNA