Vietnam looks to boost tourism cooperation with RoK's Jeollabuk-do province

A view of Jeonju Hanok Village, a tourist attraction of the RoK province of Jeollabuk-do. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Republic of Korea (RoK) is one of the favourite destinations of Vietnamese tourists, especially young people, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Ha Van Sieu has said.

He made the statement at a workshop held in Hanoi on February 14, aiming to introduce tourism potential of the RoK province of Jeollabuk-do. The event attracted the participation of leaders of VNAT, Hanoi’s Department of Tourism and representatives from more than 50 travel companies as well as airlines in Vietnam.

Last year, 185,000 Vietnamese tourists visited the RoK after the country reopened its borders. Meanwhile, Vietnam received 965,000 Korean visitors, accounting for 26% of the total foreign arrivals.

With its long-standing historical values, unique culture, beautiful nature and being recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a Creative City for Gastronomy, the province will definitely be a potential destination for the Vietnamese market in the future, Sieu said.

Vietnam is also a market that Jeollabuk-do is targeting, because the province's tourism promotion website has a Vietnamese version, which is  friendly for Vietnamese users.

This event will be an opportunity to connect travel firms of the two countries, help popularise images and potential of Jeollabuk-do tourism to the business community and Vietnamese people, promote tourism cooperation and contribute to the further development of the Vietnam-RoK strategic partnership, the official said.

In December last year, the VNAT and the Korea Tourism Organisation signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Vietnam-Korea tourism promotion cooperation for 2023-2024, creating a foundation for the two sides to foster tourism cooperation and visitor exchanges, especially at a critical time when tourism needs to be revived quickly and effectively after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing the workshop, Kim Kwan-young, Governor of Jeollabuk-do, said he hoped that Vietnamese travel companies and tourists will know more about the province and choose Jeollabuk-do as a destination for their upcoming travel schedules, noting that this year it will host Asia Pacific Masters Games 2023 and Saemangeum World Scout Jamboree 2023.

The signing ceremony of a MoU between Jeollabuk-do province and Vietravel Hanoi and Saigontourist of Vietnam was held within the framework of the event.  The two sides committed to jointly promoting and building tourism products in the near future./.