The South Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) said that Vietnamese tourist arrivals to South Korea are on the rise, evidenced by 106,360 arrivals in 2011; 110,250 in 2012; 114,357 in 2013, and 94,488 in the first eight months of 2014, up 20.2 percent from a year earlier. The figure is expected to reach 140,000 this year.
KTO continuously creates appealing MICE tourism products to draw visitors to South Korea to witness the creativity of Koreans. That effort is fruitful. In 2011, South Korea ranked 6th and Seoul ranked fifth worldwide in organising international conferences. With this ranking, South Korea is proving its dominance in MICE tourism. KTO is opening up a new era for MICE industry. MICE and tourism are chosen as one of new growth engines of South Korea.
Seeing the importance and value of MICE operations of Vietnamese travel firms, in addition to KTO’s support, local tourism authorities in South Korea have also had their own support programmes in 2014. Particularly, the Jeju Tourism Authority and the MICE Jeju Tourism Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and introduced “Jeju - Vietnam Incentive 2014” Support Programme to five Vietnamese travel companies, namely Vietravel, Saigontourist - Hanoi Branch, Vitours, TST Tourist and Asia Sun Travel, which brought a lot of MICE tourists to South Korea in 2013.
In addition, KTO has received active support from the Government of South Korea. The Government of South Korea has tried its best to minimise inconveniences and difficulties for Vietnam tourists visiting South Korea. At the Korea - Vietnam consular conference held in Seoul on July 2013, the South Korean Government agreed to simplify visa procedures and reduce visa fees for Vietnamese tourists. And, starting from July 2014, the Government of South Korea has implemented full-package tourism for Vietnamese tourists.
This regime gives more incentives for selected tourism companies, based on such conditions as tourist numbers, rate of illegal stays and business health. According to KTO, this new policy aims to increase group visas and multiple-visit visas for Vietnamese tourists. To have group visas, South Korean tourism companies can only ask for visas via tourism companies appointed by the Embassy. The person in charge of applying for group entry visas must go with the group on the same day and on the same flight with his/her group.
The group visa fee is US$15 each person. The visa is granted after two days and personal information declaration is not required at entry gates in South Korea. Multiple-visit visas are granted to persons with South Korea-set good relatives.
Giang Tu
Vietnamese
