South Korea promotes transit tourism at Incheon Airport.

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) in Vietnam, in collaboration with Incheon International Airport, Korean Air, and Delta Airlines, organized a seminar to introduce the first transit tourism product in Vietnam since the Covid-19 pandemic. The event aimed to promote the recovery of the aviation and tourism industries in the Vietnamese market.

At the event, Incheon International Airport Corporation showcased the outstanding features of its facilities and services, particularly its transit services and transit travel experiences in South Korea. The airport offers specialized amenities and facilities for transit passengers, such as discounted lounge access, free connecting flight guidance services, and complimentary transit tours.

Incheon International Airport is an ideal transit point for long-haul flights from Vietnam to the United States, Canada, or Japan. In particular, with air services provided by the Korean Air - Delta Air alliance, Southeast Asian to US routes, and especially Vietnam-US routes, are predicted to recover and develop.

In its first year of resuming air travel operations, Incheon International Airport is actively developing convenient services, trade promotion programs, destination seminars, and providing financial support of up to 50 million won (approximately 1 billion VND) for routes with high recovery rates and stop-over tourism products at Incheon.

In particular, it is expected that this year, restrictions imposed due to the impact of Covid-19 will be completely lifted, and things will return to normal as they were before the pandemic.

“The recent trend of easing pandemic restrictions and reopening borders in both countries is laying the groundwork for the revival of the air travel industry. We will conduct proactive marketing activities to revive air travel by actively listening to the opinions of relevant organizations such as the Government, airlines, and travel companies,” said Kim Kyung Wook, Director of Incheon International Airport Group.

“Following this transit tourism introduction event, KTO will coordinate with co-organizers to conduct more intensive marketing activities and offer attractive promotions for Vietnamese tourists. In addition, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and South Korea, KTO Vietnam will actively cooperate with ministries and agencies in Vietnam, tourism promotion agencies in South Korea, and travel and tourism businesses to promote the recovery of tourism exchanges between Vietnam and South Korea in 2022,” said Mr. Lee Jae Hoon, Chief Representative of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) in Vietnam.

The event promoting transit tourism in South Korea was attended by more than 100 tourism businesses in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was a large-scale marketing event in Vietnam, held in the context of a prolonged period of severe impact on the aviation and tourism industries by the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to data from KTO, the number of passengers traveling from Vietnam to Incheon International Airport in 2019 was 7.62 million, including 500,000 transit passengers, ranking first and second respectively in Southeast Asia.

Of these, passengers from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City accounted for 50% (3.8 million passengers), and these two cities also accounted for 96% (400,000 passengers) of transit passengers. Therefore, the Vietnamese market, especially Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, is considered a strategic area where the number of tourists is expected to increase most rapidly during the post-Covid recovery period.

Anh Thi