A brilliant year for Vietnam-Korea tourism.

The 2019 Korea Tourism Awards ceremony took place on December 12, 2019, at the Melia Hanoi Hotel to celebrate a successful year of tourism exchange between Vietnam and Korea. The awards included categories such as Strategic Partner, Innovative Partner, Outstanding Partner, Excellent Journalist, a special award for a Senior Korean Tourism Consultant; and recognition for outstanding partners.

“2019 was a successful year for the Vietnamese market in terms of Korean tourism. With stable growth, Vietnam affirmed its position as one of the top 10 important markets with the highest number of visitors to Korea,” said Mr. Park Jong Sun, Chief Representative of the Korea Tourism Organization in Vietnam.

As of September 2019, the number of South Korean tourists visiting Vietnam reached over 3.1 million – an increase of approximately 22.5% compared to the same period in 2018, making it the second most important market, after China, for Vietnamese tourism. Conversely, as of the end of November 2019, the number of Vietnamese tourists visiting South Korea reached over 521,000, an increase of approximately 21.9% compared to the same period in 2018, continuing to maintain its position as a market with stable growth in the number of tourists for South Korean tourism.

Besides the strong growth in the number of tourists, a continuous stream of new, high-quality tourism products are being introduced to Vietnamese visitors. The promotional campaign for the four seasons – spring, summer, autumn, and winter – organized by KTO in Vietnam has received a great response and launched over 100 new tourism products. Many novel experiences have been offered to Vietnamese tourists, such as: attending seasonal festivals, experiencing skiing at resorts, exploring the filming locations of famous television dramas, traditional markets, family-friendly destinations, and relaxing resort destinations, etc.

In particular, in September and November 2019, KTO collaborated with the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organize the "Vietnam Welcome Week 2019," featuring numerous activities to support and promote Vietnamese tourists at popular tourist destinations in Korea. In addition, practical support included: assigning Vietnamese-speaking personnel at immigration checkpoints at Incheon International Airport; operating special tourist information counters for Vietnamese visitors at several airports in Korea; and giving welcome gifts to Vietnamese tourists.

KTO also collaborates with VTV1 and VTV3 channels of Vietnam Television to promote more widely independent travel, medical tourism, and traditional market experience tourism to a large number of Vietnamese tourists. Particularly in the incentive travel sector, in 2019, KTO supported over 71,000 Vietnamese tourists to visit South Korea, an increase of 16.61% compared to 2019, ranking number 1 among 32 markets implementing policies to support incentive travel groups.

My Tong