Korean tourists arrive in Hue from a charter flight landing at Phu Bai International Airport

Identify opportunities

The international tourist market began to recover from mid-2022 and has grown significantly in the past two years. Tourists from South Korea are gradually increasing again and are currently in the top 10 international tourist markets to Hue. According to the leader of the Department of Tourism, reality shows that South Korea continues to be one of the key markets with positive signs of recovery.

There are many points that experts suggest Hue should focus more on nearby international tourist markets, including Korean tourists. The convenient geographical distance helps save costs and travel time, which is one of the priorities of tourists. In addition, Hue's attraction to Korean tourists comes not only from the similarities in East Asian culture, but also from their interest in the natural beauty, cultural heritage and culinary quintessence of Hue.

Ms. Chau Thi Hoang Mai, Vice President of Hue City Tourism Association, analyzed that the Korean market is always in the top 3 countries sending the most visitors to Vietnam, accounting for 41% of international visitors staying in Da Nang. For Hue, before 2020, Korean visitors accounted for an average of 25.5% of international visitors. The problem in connecting and attracting Korean visitors is that there are no direct flights to Hue. Therefore, the land of Huong Ngu is still in a "secondary" position in the inter-route tour itinerary. Korean visitors stay for a short time, have a shortened experience, and have not created real spillover value for the locality.

“Currently, the new way of traveling of Korean tourists has changed a lot. They want to find peaceful, original, unique destinations, not popular. Korean tourists are interested in in-depth experiences, love cultural - historical - culinary values, enjoy sports, health treatments... These trends are very suitable for Hue's strengths", Ms. Mai shared.

According to a representative of the Hue City Tourism Association, the Korea - Hue route will be a strategic option to supplement the existing network. Currently, most flights from Korea to Central Vietnam land in Da Nang. The rapid growth in recent years has created pressure on infrastructure and services in Da Nang, especially during peak season. The opening of the Korea - Hue route will create a reasonable distribution, increase attractiveness and develop multi-center tourism in Central Vietnam.

Mr. Lee Jin Seok, Chairman of the Korean Tourism Association, said that Hue has many advantages to compete and develop tourism, especially culture, heritage, and art. Hue also has a beautiful golf course, and golf tourism is also a type of tourism that Korean tourists really like.

Hue City Department of Tourism signed a cooperation agreement with the Korean Travel Association

Determined to open flight routes

Since Terminal T2 of Phu Bai International Airport was put into operation (April 2023), local authorities, tourism, aviation and related units have made efforts to promote the opening of flight routes, including flights to Korea. At the end of July 2023, Hue tourism welcomed international visitors from the direct flight connecting Hue with Incheon (Korea). Charter flights will also be maintained in 2024. However, the big expectation is commercial flights, maintained regularly.

At the workshop on promoting Hue tourism in the Korean market (afternoon of May 30), member of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Hue City People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh emphasized that it is important to have a fixed flight. It is expected that from now until the end of the year, there will be a flight from Seoul (Korea) to Phu Bai. Local authorities, the tourism industry and units are preparing plans and conditions to open and maintain a stable flight route, not opening and then closing. Along with determination, policy mechanisms and an open ecosystem, there needs to be readiness from the tourism industry and preparation from units and businesses.

According to a representative of Vietjet Air, in order to expand the flight network connecting Hue with international routes, Hue needs to regularly organize tourism promotion and advertising activities to introduce tourism products and attractive destinations to new and potential tourist markets in Korea. There are support and companion policies from aviation and tourism management agencies to facilitate the airline's flight route promotion activities.

Mr. Pham Van Thuy, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, said that in recent times, tourism of the two countries has carried out many cooperation activities, creating favorable conditions for the exchange of visitors. In the coming time, the Vietnam National Tourism Administration will advise the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to innovate and perfect the cooperation mechanism for tourism development; accompany localities to remove difficulties, carry out support activities, create an open environment and conditions for businesses to accelerate, develop effectively and sustainably.

According to the Department of Tourism, local authorities, the tourism industry and units are making efforts to promote and open international flights and implement many solutions to attract visitors. The tourism industry has signed and promoted cooperation with Korean partners. In particular, it will coordinate with partners to research, propose to open and maintain direct flights between Hue and major cities of Korea, and at the same time, work with travel agencies to create favorable conditions to attract and serve international visitors.

Article and photos: HUU PHUC

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/du-lich/ky-vong-duong-bay-thang-ket-noi-hue-han-quoc-154532.html