The number of tourists from the Republic of Korea (RoK) to Vietnam has grown impressively in the recent years, making the RoK the second biggest tourism market of Vietnam, according to the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

Visitors at Linh Ung Pagoda in Da Nang city (Photo: VNA)

Statistics from the VNAT show that in 2018, Vietnam welcomed nearly 3.5 million Korean visitors, a sharp rise from 2.5 million in 2017 and 1.5 million in 2016.

In the first five months of this year, 1.7 million Korean tourists visited Vietnam, up 22.4 percent over the same period in 2018.

According to the Korean Tourism Organisation’s representative office in Vietnam, Ha Long Bay, Hanoi, Da Nang, Hoi An and Phu Quoc are among the most popular destinations for Korean tourists.

Meanwhile, nearly 500 million Vietnamese tourists visited the RoK in 2018, a rise of about 41 percent over 2017. The RoK Government is applying many measures to attract more Vietnamese visitors.

In order to further promote the market, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien will lead a Vietnamese delegation to visit the RoK, during which a programme to introduce Vietnamese culture and tourism will be held from June 25-30 in Seoul and Daegu.

Earlier, from June 7-9, a VNAT working team attended the Hanatour International Travel Show 2019, which is the largest annual fair of the RoK.

This year, the event had more than 900 booths by a large number of travel firms, hotels and airlines from countries around the world. At the event, the Vietnamese pavilion introduced tourist destinations, tourism policies and events to be held in the future.

(Source: VNA)