Tourists visit Hanok Bukchon Village in Seoul. — VNS Photo Minh Thu

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is viewed as a major market for attracting MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Event) tourism in the Republic of Korea (RoK), Jo Deok-hyun, a representative from the Korean Tourism Organisation (KTO) said at a conference on MICE tourism yesterday in Hà Nội.

The conference attracted travel enterprises and managers from the RoK and Việt Nam to discuss co-operation.

“Statistics showed that close to 34,000 Vietnamese visitors travelled to South Korea under MICE tours with support from the KTO in the first six months of 2019, increasing nearly 25 per cent in comparison with the same period last year,” said Jo.

“The event was aimed to serve as a bridge for MICE service providers of South Korea and travel companies of Việt Nam, thus creating new tourism products and boosting the number of MICE tourists of the two countries,” he said. 
The RoK plans to adjust its visa policies to stimulate the growth of MICE tourism, according to the KTO. 

“I believe that the visa policy and convenient transport and exchange in various fields will help boost co-operation between two countries in tourism,” said Jo.

“We will attempt to upgrade the service quality to bring better experience for Vietnamese tourists in the near future.”

On the occasion, representatives from tourism promotion department of Busan, Incheon, Jeju and Gyeongju introduced the potential of these localities.

In the first half of 2019, Việt Nam welcomed nearly 1.8 million visitors from South Korea, up 22.4 per cent over the same period last year. The RoK has become the second biggest tourist source market of Việt Nam. — VNS