Vietnam's central localities shake hands to attract more Korean tourists

Four central localities including Da Nang, Quang Nam, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Binh jointly held a webinar on November 22 to promote tourism to the Republic of Korean market.

Deputy Director of Da Nang’s Department of Tourism Nguyen Xuan Binh speaking at the event. (Photo: VNA)
Deputy Director of Da Nang’s Department of Tourism Nguyen Xuan Binh speaking at the event. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK Nguyen Vu Tung, Korean Consul General in Da Nang city Ahn Min Sik, and over 150 delegates representing travel agents and businesses of the two countries, including around 80 from the RoK, attended the event.

The webinar took place right after Quang Nam and Da Nang announced and implemented their plans to welcome international visitors back as accepted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. At same time, many Korean travel partners have expressed their desire to organise charter flights and closed tours for their customers during the peak tourism season at the end of 2021 and the New Year holidays of 2022.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Director of Da Nang’s Department of Tourism Nguyen Xuan Binh said that the Vietnamese Government has agreed to allow Da Nang, Phu Quoc, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam and Quang Ninh to open their doors to international visitors. The tourism ministry has also issued guidance on implementing a pilot programme to welcome foreign tourists in three phases, starting from November 2021. It is expected that in June 2022, when the pandemic is well under control, Vietnam will be fully opened to international tourists.

Tung stated that the webinar was a good chance for parties involved to have initiatives and proposals and discuss measures to restore tourism to create a motivation for economic development, thus helping to deepen the two countries’ relations.

Korean Consul General in Da Nang city Ahn Min Sik said the central region in general and Da Nang in particular have been long favourite destinations of Korean holiday-makers.

The number of Korean tourists to the central region of Vietnam increased continuously during 2015-2019, from 210,000 in 2015 to 1.8 million in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The 2019 figure accounted for 41 percent of the total number of Korean visitors to Vietnam, he said.