South Korean boy band Highlight at the tourism promotion event “My Soul Seoul in Ho Chi Minh”. — Photo courtesy of the organisers

HCM CITY — About 1,000 people attended and experienced the tourism promotion event “My Soul Seoul in Ho Chi Minh” hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Tourism Organisation in HCM City recently.

The event is Seoul’s initiative, aiming to announce its tourism resumption and showcase the various charms of the world trend-driver metropolis to enthusiasts in HCM City. With a focus on the Hallyu Wave, which Vietnamese are familiar with and passionate about, the event featured diversified experience booths and performances on K-beauty, fashion, and K-pop.

The participants were excited to join Seoul Beauty Show for trending makeup looks and hairstyles at beauty classes, and immersed in Seoul vibrant street fashion at Seoul Fashion Show. Remarkably, the Seoul Mayor also stood on stage and participated as a model.

In response to Vietnamese’ K-pop fever, the K-pop Concert was organised with the performances of the Korean boy band Highkight, female singer Hari Won, and nine Vietnamese competing teams of the K-Pop Cover Dance Festival – a 12-year worldwide festival host by Seoul Daily Newspaper.

HE:aven, who won the K-Pop Cover Dance Festival, will have a chance to visit Korea, meet K-pop idols, learn dancing from Korean famous dancers and participate in the final round held in Seoul next October.

Participants join Seoul Beauty Show for trending makeup looks and hairstyles as part of the tourism promotion event “My Soul Seoul in Ho Chi Minh” on August 2. — Photo courtesy of the organisers

“The Seoul Metropolitan Government considers Việt Nam and HCM City as strategic tourism country and city, and tourism is particularly prominent in the exchanges between us. In addition, 2022 is also a special year marking the 30th anniversary of Korea – Việt Nam diplomacy establishment”, said Sehoon Oh, Mayor of Seoul.

“Thus, I expect that the event will provide a chance for the two countries in general and two cities in particular to better understand each other, thereby creating an environment to promote tourism and explore new areas of co-operation in the future.”

Kiyon Kil, chairman and CEO of Seoul Tourism Organisation, said: “Today's event took two days of advance admission and distributed tickets. The number of people registered to attend and show interest was nine times higher than we expected. As Việt Nam is one of the countries which have high consumption rate of Hallyu culture, we are planning to hold more events to respond to Vietnamese enthusiasm in the near future.”

Starting with promotion in HCM City, the organisers will continue the plan to promote Seoul as an ideal tourist destination around the world by focusing on MICE events along with extensive face-to-face marketing covering Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, Europe, and America.

In particular, BTS, who have served as Seoul's honorary tourism ambassador for five years since 2017, will be with the world to promote Seoul as a tourist city again this year. — VNS