Against the backdrop of a growing influx of South Korean visitors to Da Nang in recent times, a boom in diverse and abundant tourism services has been seen here to meet their diversified tastes, as well as inspire them to extend their stay periods here, return later, and recommend this attractive destination to others.

South Korean tourists being interested in wearing ‘ao dai’

Housing many special tourism products, such tourist-packed streets as Duong Dinh Nghe, Ha Bong, Ha Dac, Ha Chuong, Nguyen Van Thoai in Son Tra District, and internal streets of the An Thuong Tourist Quarter in Ngu Hanh Son District have become favourite places for South Koreans.

A number of service offering facilities, ranging from barbecue restaurants, coffee shops, cosmetics stores to beauty care saloons standing along on the tourist routes showcase billboards in the Korean language.

Travellers from this East Asian country can easily reach restaurants offering their homeland’s feature dishes such as barbecue, kimchi, black bean sauce noodles, and spicy hotpot. Also, convenience stores and mini-marts, K-Mart for instance, are “do-not-miss” sites for South Koreans.

Ms Kim Mai, the owner of a spa on Thu Khoa Huan Street, said, her business facility often welcomes a number of South Korean guests who highly praise many spas services in Da Nang for being as good as those in their country, and encouragingly, being offered at much cheaper prices.

Besides, typical Vietnamese products also attract South Korean customers. The MS Sam Ao Dai, located at 59 Tran Dinh Dan, Son Tra District is an ideal place for those who love to tailor their own ‘ao dais’ (traditional Vietnamese long dress) or buy readymade ones.

Every day, this tailor store welcomes up to 8 groups of South Korean visitors. In order to satisfy the demand of these international tourists, tailors at the MS Sam Ao Dai offer 4-hour tailoring services. Visitors can wait or tour around the city for 4 hours after ordering such services to collect their tailored ‘ao dais’.

In addition, MS Sam Ao Dai staff members, who are fluent in English and Korean, are willing to give high recommendations on the use of such accessories as wooden clogs, conical hats, and sedge bags.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thanh Thuong, a 29- year-old freelance Korean-speaking tour guide, pointed out to the fact that Da Nang wins the hearts of South Korean visitors thanks to its clean infrastructure, beautiful natural surroundings, diverse services and friendly attitude of local residents.

During their stay in this coastal central Vietnamese city, tourists usually start a new day with a relaxing feeling whilst immersing themselves in the cool seawater at the beautiful My Khe Beach, then drop by the downtown Han Market to buy sedge bags, hats, and sandals. In the afternoon, they often admire the inviting charm of the Marble Mountains Tourist Area, and then return to the city centre to enjoy dinner with pancakes or barbecue. In addition, at the end the day, they experience relaxing moments with wonderful massage services offered by the city-based high-quality spas.

In particular, the Hoa Vang District-located Sun World Ba Na Hills resort is heavily favoured by all South Korean holiday-makers.

Sedge bags, hats and sandals are much favoured by South Koreans

According to the city’s Department of Tourism, South Korea has already overtaken China as Da Nang’s tourist source market. In 2017 alone, Da Nang welcomed 931,981 South Korean visitors in total, and this figure climbed to 1,692,293 visitors in 2018, and 878,719 during the first half of this year only.

Currently, there are direct routes connecting Da Nang with South Korean destinations, with an average of 82 non-stop regular and charter flights bringing a large number of South Korean nationals to Da Nang per week. This is probably one of the main reasons why the number of Korean tourists has soared in recent times.

Vietnam Travelmart, last year, received tour bookings from about 30,000 South Korean clients, and this figure is highly expected to double this year.

In particular, during such special occasions as the Korean Lunar New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival, or on some Korean national holidays, the number of South Korean visitors to Da Nang usually skyrockets.

In a recent survey on 531 South Korean visitors conducted by the Tourism Department, My Khe Beach, Sun World Ba Na Hills, Marble Mountains Tourist Area and Linh Ung Pagoda on the Son Tra Peninsula were their most favourite attractions in the city. This survey’s result also shows that about 69.8% of the respondents said they would definitely return to this beautiful seaside city in the shortest time.

According to an analysis done by Ticket Monster Inc., one of the largest travel booking destinations in South Korea, last year, Da Nang was the top destination Korean families desire to travel to the most, and this city also ranked second in the list of the 10 most popular destinations among solo or couple travellers.