Overview of the meeting (Photo: TITC)

Mr. Lee Kin-ho, Director General of Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism Division stated, Chungcheongnam-do is used to be the capital of Korea, and it takes more than 2 hours by road from Seoul. Visitors to Chungcheongnam-do can admire the ancient, peaceful, and imbued with cultural and historical values of Korea. The province is also famous for a number of beautiful beaches, islands, mountains, and hot springs.

Not only are there attractive tourist attractions, but there are also unique cuisines in Chungcheongnam-do, such as Hoengseong beef, Nonsense strawberry, Boryeong oyster, Geumsan watermelon… Mosi weaving has been recognized by UNESCO as the intangible cultural heritage of humanity on 28th May 2011.

Mr. Lee Kun-ho hopes that VNAT will act as a bridge to support Chungcheongnam-do to connect and cooperate with Vietnamese travel companies to attract Vietnamese tourists; promoting tourism and cultural resources of Korea and Chungcheongnam-do.

VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu and Mr. Lee Kun-ho, Director General of Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Government Culture, Sports and Tourism Division at the meeting (Photo: TITC)

Accordingly, Chungcheongnam-do has a plan to promote tourism products of the province for Vietnamese tourists. In which, promotional activities such as the Baekje Cultural Festival for tourist groups and leading tour operators in Vietnam; the Introduction of tourism resources and tour itineraries in Chungcheongnam-do…

VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu affirmed that Vietnam and Korea have a close cooperation relationship. He also highly appreciated the great potential of Chungcheongnam-do in tourism, rich in historical traditions.

Korean visitors to Vietnam have increased by 5 times in the period of 2014-2019, average growth rate of 38%/year. Since 2016, Korea ranks second among the tourist source markets of Vietnam.

Director General of Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Government Culture, Sports and Tourism Division Mr. Lee Kun-ho gifting souvenir to VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu (Photo: TITC)

In 2019, visitor exchange between Vietnam and Korea reached over 4.8 million arrivals, up 22% compared to 2018. In which, Vietnam welcomed nearly 4.3 million Korean visitor arrivals, Korea welcomed more than 523 thousand Vietnamese visitor arrivals. Tourism of both countries has received many positive signs of recovery post pandemic. In 2022, Vietnam welcomed around 965 thousand Korean visitor arrivals, Korea welcomed around 185 thousand Vietnamese visitor arrivals. In the first 4 months of 2023, Vietnam has welcomed a million of Korean visitor arrivals.

VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu suggested that the two sides regularly share updated information on the tourism situation, tourism development policies of Vietnam and Chungcheongnam-do, promotion activities, building new tourism products and international tourism trends... to promptly coordinate in cooperation activities, joint promotion, promote two-way exchange of visitors.

VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu gifting souvenir to Director General of Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism Division Mr. Lee Kun-ho (Photo: TITC)

Delegates taking souvenir photo (Photo: TITC)

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