Travel firms, destinations gear up for Korean tourist inflow during Tet

Data from online travel platform Agoda showed that Vietnam is one of the five most favorite destinations of international tourists for the Lunar New Year next month. The leading sources of travelers during this occasion will be South Korea, Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Japan.

Major travel companies in South Korea like HantaTour, Very Good Travel, and Kyowon Tour Travel Easy reported that the number of Korean tourists booking Tet tours has increased about 50% year-on-year, and Phu Quoc island of Vietnam is among the most attractive destinations for them during the approaching holidays.

Grasping the taste of holidaymakers from South Korea, many tourism firms and places have also rolled out the red carpet with various interesting products.

Thai Phuong Hoa, general director of Sun World – the entertainment brand of Sun Group, said that the company has introduced a wide range of novel experiences in Phu Quoc such as Cau Hon (Kiss Bridge), a night market, and a multimedia show named “Kiss of the Sea” with fireworks all year round.

Hoa believed that Korean tourists, especially festivalists, will love these activities.

In 2023, nearly 3.6 million visitors from South Korea chose Vietnam as their holiday destination, becoming the biggest source of international tourists in the Southeast Asian nation.

Vietnam’s visa exemption policy was considered a plus of its attractiveness to Korean travelers.

Chairwoman of HanaTour Song Mi-sun said her company will strive to help raise the number of Korean visitors to Vietnam this year to 6 million. Apart from popular destinations of Koreans, it will open tours of other places like Sa Pa township in the northern province of Lao Cai.

In addition to coastal cities like Da Nang, Nha Trang, and Phu Quoc, tourists from the Northeast Asian country are now also choosing mountainous areas of Vietnam to explore, particularly Sa Pa.

Yong Sung-ok, head of the Southeast Asian division at HanaTour, noted Vietnam has become a popular destination and the most searched one among Korean travelers in the recent past.

Despite prolonged economic recession impacts, Koreans are currently ready to spend big on luxury seats on flights.

Vietnam was the destination with the biggest volume of business class tickets purchased by Korean passengers in 2023, according to statistics about last year’s flight ticket revenue in the RoK released by the country’s biggest e-marketplace Gmarket.