Korea Tourism Organization in Vietnam organizes Korea Tourism Night 2023

2023 is a year of extremely active activities for KTO Vietnam across provinces and cities in Vietnam and recorded impressive numbers. The number of Vietnamese tourists to Korea in the first 11 months of the year reached 386,921, reaching 74% over the same period in 2019 and 139.7% over the same period in 2022. This number also shows that the goal of reaching 400,000 Vietnamese tourists to Korea in 2023 is gradually being completed, recovering 72% compared to 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Along with the general recovery of the whole market, Korean MICE tourism has also achieved many outstanding achievements in Vietnam. By the end of November this year, there were 38,435 MICE tourists coming to Korea, an increase of 228% over the same period in 2022. Of which, there were 16 groups of over 300 guests, an increase of 167%; Group guests of Korean-invested enterprises in Vietnam reached 457 guests, an increase of 400% compared to 2022.

In particular, with the above impressive achievements, Vietnam is the leading market in Southeast Asia in terms of the number of tourists in general and MICE tourists in particular coming to Korea.

The Korean Tourism Night & Korean Tourism Awards Ceremony 2023 is an opportunity for KTO in Vietnam to say thank you to all the groups and individuals who have contributed to the development of Korean Tourism in the Vietnamese market and at the same time, it is an opportunity to honor the partners who have accompanied KTO in the past time.

The 2023 Korea Tourism Awards include the following categories: “Strategic Partner”, “Impressive Partner”, “Creative Partner”, “Program of the Year” and honor outstanding partners. The 2023 Korea Tourism Awards will include three categories: “Diamond Partner”, “Gold Partner”, “Silver Partner”. The award will be based on statistical data on the achievements of units and individuals in sending reward groups and group tours to Korea in 2023.

Korea Tourism Awards:

- In the category of "Strategic Partner": Vietravel Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City continued to win awards for their active and effective participation in Korean tourism promotion activities in localities across the country and comprehensive cooperation with KTO in building and developing diversified products for both individual and group customers with impressive customer acquisition achievements.

- In the category “Impressive Partner”: the award was given to 3 companies including Flamingo Redtours, Vietrantour in Hanoi and BenThanh Tourist in Ho Chi Minh City for many new and diverse products, especially high-end tours, experiencing the Korean cultural wave Hallyu, exploring Korean localities and impressive customer gathering achievements.

- In the category "Creative Partner": the award belongs to Top Travel and Hanoi Tourism in Hanoi and Transviet in Ho Chi Minh City, 3 companies that have made great contributions in building and developing unique and novel Korean tourism products, exploiting product routes using local airports in Korea, attracting the attention of Vietnamese tourists.

- In the category "Promising Partner": the award was given to Hanoitourist, Hanoi Skytour in Hanoi and Trieu Hao Tourist, Tugo in Ho Chi Minh City for their positive contributions and showing great potential for future development.

- In the category "Program of the Year": The award belongs to "Let's Feast Vietnam visit Busan" - An exciting journey filmed in Korea with the participation of Miss Thuy Tien, Streamer Misthy, Chef Hoshi Phan, Food blogger Dino Vu with unique content and impressive tourism promotion effectiveness. In addition, in 2023, KTO would like to thank the agencies, tourism units and corporate customers who have always accompanied and supported KTO throughout 2023, including: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Hanoi Department of Tourism, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, Vietnam Tourism Association VITA, Vietnam Tourism Association VISTA, Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association, Da Nang Tourism Association, Box Sports Joint Stock Company - Esports Development Company.

Korea Incentive Travel Awards:

- In the category of “Korean Incentive Travel Diamond Partner”: Vietravel and Saigontourist excellently won the award and became KTO’s Gold Partners in attracting large-scale incentive groups to Korea with extremely impressive achievements in registering to receive support for 3,000 customers to Korea.

- In the category of “Korea Travel Award Gold Partner”: The award was presented to Thanh Cong Travel, International Golden Flight Service in Hanoi and Sea Star International Travel and TST Tourist in Ho Chi Minh City for registering to receive support for more than 1,000 customers with a stable growth rate.

- In the category of “Korea Incentive Tourism Silver Partner”: The award was given to Skylines Travel in Hanoi and BenThanh Tourist in Ho Chi Minh City for their achievements in gathering large-scale groups as well as actively developing local Incentive Tourism products.

During the 2023 Korea Tourism Night, KTO also highlighted tourism topics that KTO is focusing on promoting such as Local Tourism, Special Experiences in Korea (SIT), and Luxury Tourism. In particular, in January 2024, the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games will be held at many locations in Gangwon Province with 15,000 participants, demonstrating Korea's ability to organize large-scale international events. Following 2023, KTO also expects to have many more outstanding new achievements in 2024, making the 2023-2024 Korea Tourism Year a great success.

“The Korean Tourism Night is a meaningful occasion for KTO and its partners to look back on the past year, as well as for KTO to express its gratitude to the great contributions of its partners in the development of Korean tourism in the Vietnamese market. I hope that KTO can continue to receive support and companionship from its partners, so that Korean tourism can quickly recover to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels, Vietnam will always be the leading market for Korean tourism in Southeast Asia, the friendship between the two countries will become increasingly strong, together developing not only in the field of tourism but also in culture, economy and politics” - Mr. Lee Jae Hoon, Chief Representative of the Korea Tourism Organization in Vietnam said.

Phuong Mai is a reporter for Travellive Magazine in Hanoi.

Phuong Mai