Vietnam leads ASEAN in number of tourists to RoK

These figures were released by Lee Jae Hoon, chief representative of the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) in Vietnam, at a signing ceremony of cooperation document between the KTO and the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) held in Hanoi on September 28.

Under the document, the KTO will support the VITA’s members in building and promoting tourism programmes, improving the overall quality of tours, and ensuring rights for Vietnamese visitors to the RoK, while assisting Vietnamese travel firms to serve Korean tourists to Vietnam.

Most notably, the two sides will coordinate closely with state agencies in a bid to strengthen the management of tourism programmes and ensure tourists’ rights.

Hoon expressed hope that the two sides would actively exchange tourism information, as well as human resources and tourism policies, to help improve the quality of tourism products and better serve tourists from the two countries.

The KTO will participate in tourism promotion exhibitions and strengthen cooperation activities between the KTO and the VITA through Business to Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) connection events and FAM trips to develop diverse and attractive tourism products.

Vu The Binh, VITA president, stressed that the RoK is a potential market for Vietnam which had welcomed 2.37 million Korean visitors as of August 2023, and the figure is expected to rise to approximately 3.2 million this year and around 5 million next year.

Meanwhile, the Korean tourist market has enjoyed rapid growth and a strong recovery. The number of Vietnamese tourists to the RoK is expected to exceed 500,000 in 2024, Binh noted.