The Busan Sea Festival in South Korea. Photo courtesy of KTO

HCM CITY The Korea Tourism Organisation in Việt Nam will organise a Việt Nam- South Korea Culture and Tourism Festival in HCM City at the end of September.

The annual event will feature a series of activities to promote the cultural and tourism attractions of the two countries, including a showcase of new destinations, tour products and music and art performances, with the participation of Vietnamese and South Korean famous artists.

The Korean agency expects to showcase its country’s friendly and beautiful images as well as cultural and tourism exchanges between the two countries.

Besides the festival, the KTO will also organise various events to promote South Korea’s tourism in Việt Nam, including a road show on South Korean MICE tourism in Hà Nội in July and the Korea Travel Awards in Hà Nội and HCM City in December.

In the second half of this year it plans to launch the Korea Tour Card, Namhaean, for tourists visiting the Namhaen region such as Busan, Gyeongsangnam-do and Jeollanam-do.

The card, a foreigner-only transportation card available nation-wide, includes local benefits.

South Korea received more than 215,500 Vietnamese visitors in the first five months of this year, up 32.3 per cent year-on-year, according to the KTO.

The number of South Korean tourists visiting Việt Nam in the first quarter of this year topped 1.1 million, a year-on-year increase of 24.4 per cent.

Hạ Long Bay, Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng, Hội An, and Phú Quốc were their most popular destinations. — VNS