Hanoi (VNA) – The Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) in Vietnam held an event on June22 to set up connections with Vietnamese travel management agencies andbusinesses to promote the growth of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions,and Exhibitions) tourism after COVID-19 is put under control.

The event drew representatives from 25 travel agencies, localities and businesses from the Republic of Korea (RoK), Vietnamese tourism managementagencies and more than 50 travel firms in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The RoK is one of the major tourism marketsof Vietnam. In 2019 before COVID-19 broke out, Vietnam welcomed about 4.3million Korean tourists, up 23.1 percent over the previous year, making the RoKthe second largest tourism market of Vietnam.

Meanwhile, in that year, 554,000 Vietnamesetravelled to the RoK, of whom 73,000 took MICE tours.

In 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic posedadverse impacts on the global tourism sector, including tourism of Vietnam andthe RoK. After COVID-19 is put under control, from June 1, 2022, the RoKGovernment has worked to promote the recovery and development of tourism,including MICE tourism.

At the same time, Vietnam has fully reopened its tourism from March 15. In thefirst five months of this year, international arrivals to Vietnam reached229,000, 4.5 times higher than that in the same period last year, including 56,500from the RoK, a surge of 334 percent compared to the same time in 2021.

Pham Van Thuy, Vice Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, asked the KTO to give more favourable conditions for people of both countries totravel to each other, and travellers from a third country to visit thetwo nations.

According to KTO Chief Representative inVietnam Lee Jae-hoon, the RoK highly values Vietnam’s potential in MICE tourism,affirmed that his country always welcomes Vietnamese firms to take MICE toursin the RoK. He expressed his belief that the event will create more opportunitiesfor tourism sectors of both sides to foster partnership.

The RoK is currently considered a centre of MICE tourism in Asia thanks to highquality infrastructure system in the majority of its cities such as Seoul,Busan, Jeju, Incheon, Gyeonggi and Gangwon./.