Korean visitors to Hue are welcomed at the airport

Opportunities for the tourism industry

Statistics from the Korean tourism industry show that in tourism products departing in December 2023 of three major travel agencies, including Hana Tour, Mode Tour and Very Good Travel, Southeast Asia occupies the top position. For Mode Tour, 61% of total bookings are to Southeast Asia. In the ASEAN region, Vietnam has the largest number of tour bookings with 45%, followed by Thailand with 18%, the Philippines with 12% and Malaysia with 5%.

These numbers are no coincidence. Southeast Asian countries, where temperatures hover around 20 degrees Celsius even in winter, have become traditional winter vacation destinations for Koreans. As a result, the trend of “living in Southeast Asia for a month” has been on the rise in Korea recently. Long-term tours are more popular than short-term tours among senior citizens in Korea. In response to this trend, the Korean tourism industry has been continuously launching products for long-term stays in Southeast Asia, while social networking services (SNS) are flooded with reviews of living in Southeast Asia for a month.

Korean visitors arrive in Hue from direct flights to Phu Bai International Airport

Reasonable cost is the deciding factor when visitors choose to come to Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries. According to data from the National Statistical Office of Korea, in 2022, the moderate cost of living for a two-person household in Korea after retirement is 3.14 million won (about 58 million VND) per month. This amount is enough to cover living expenses for a month, including airfare and travel expenses in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the advantage is that the weather in Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries is warmer.

Mr. Lee, a Korean tourist, shared: “The weather, climate, cuisine , culture… in Vietnam are very good but the cost is very cheap for a long vacation. We want to take this opportunity to rest and travel in the winter because our winter is much colder.”

Seize the opportunity

Along with efforts to attract domestic visitors to Hue, the tourism industry of the ancient capital is promoting policies to attract international visitors. Since Terminal T2 - Phu Bai International Airport (HKQT) came into operation (April 2023), Thua Thien Hue has increased the exploitation of international routes, including many charter flights (charter flights) Hue - Korea.

However, South Korea has not been among the top tourist markets to Hue recently. Data released by the Thua Thien Hue Statistics Office shows that the top 10 tourist markets to Hue in October 2023 include: Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, France, the US, Spain, Germany, Australia, the UK, and the Netherlands. On the contrary, Da Nang, a city next to Hue, attracts a large number of Korean tourists. Da Nang has become a favorite destination for many Koreans, even being called "Gyeonggi Da Nang City". This is also a problem for the tourism industry in Thua Thien Hue.

Looking back at recent figures, especially in 2022, the number of Korean visitors to Vietnam is the highest since tourism fully opened, but the number of visitors from the land of Kim Chi to Hue is very limited. A specific example is that in 2022, there were over 3.66 million international visitors to Vietnam; of which, Korean visitors accounted for the largest proportion at 26.4% (965.4 thousand visitors). In Thua Thien Hue, Korean visitors have started to return, but not many, each month Hue welcomes only about 1,000 Korean visitors. This is still a very modest number compared to the period before the pandemic. Before the pandemic, in the period 2017 - 2019, Korea was always the market with the largest international visitor market share in Hue. As in 2019, the total number of international visitors to Hue reached 2.186 million. Korean tourists led the visitor markets that year, accounting for 19.9%. However, with current open policies and efforts of the provincial tourism industry, the prospect of the Korean tourist market increasing again is still very bright.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Director of the Department of Tourism, said that the new passenger terminal (T2) of Phu Bai International Airport has come into operation, partly removing the "bottleneck" in transportation. The provincial tourism industry is implementing many new forms of promotion, making full use of technology for promotion; coordinating with the Hue Monuments Conservation Center to renew products based on culture and heritage... At the same time, travel agencies are organizing many two-way flights to and from Hue - Korea.

The reality is that after a period of being affected by the pandemic, Hue's destination image has more or less faded in many markets, including Korea. Promoting new promotional strategies for key markets and renewing tourism products will create conditions for Hue to strongly attract international visitors, including Korea. In addition, it is necessary to have solutions to approach and market to the right target customers who are in need of "long-term travel" and long vacations. On the other hand, it is necessary to closely connect with partners and businesses in other countries and have reasonable pricing policies to create more attractiveness to attract visitors.

Article and photos: HUU PHUC