New Tourism Ambassador expected to boost tourism ties with RoK
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien met Ly Xuong Can, the new Tourism Ambassador of Vietnam, in Hanoi on November 30, voicing his hope that the ambassador will help develop Vietnam’s tourism as well as tourism cooperation with the Republic of Korea (RoK).
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Thien noted that the RoK is a leading market of Vietnam’s tourism sector.
In 2016, Vietnam welcomed more than 1.5 million RoK tourists, a surge of 38.7% year on year.
Over 1.93 million RoK visitors traveled to Vietnam in the first 10 months of 2017, up 53.9% over the same period of 2016. The figure is likely to reach 2 million in the whole year.
RoK tourists are the second largest foreign visitor group in Vietnam, only after Chinese.
Can pledged that he will work hard to contribute to the promotion of Vietnamese tourism and forge stronger tourism partnership between Vietnam and the RoK.
Ly Xuong Can (Lee Chang Kun in Korean), is the 31st generation offspring of King Ly Thai To (974-1028). He was born in the RoK and naturalized in Vietnam in 2010. He has become a member of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee since 2014.
Can has been the President of the Vietnam-Korean fork culture association that he formed in 1994 with an aim to foster friendship between the two peoples.
He was appointed as the Tourism Ambassador of Vietnam for the 2017-2020 tenure following a decision of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry on November 21. In December this year, Minister Thien will officially hand over the decision to Can during the Vietnamese Culture and Tourism Festival in the RoK.
