The northern province of Quang Ninh will open a tourism office on Jeju Island in South Korea to promote its image and lure more Korean travelers under a cooperation agreement between the two localities.
Under the agreement between provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau of the Jeju Province signed lately, both sides will jointly develop new tourism products and promote mutual tourism services.
Lam Van Vinh, director of Quang Ninh Province's Tourism Promotion Center, said Jeju will support Quang Ninh in opening its tourism office on the Korean island and help with personnel training. The two sides both have famous tourist attractions recognized as the new world wonder sites, making it easier for the bilateral tourism collaboration.
"Jeju and Quang Ninh will be working more closely on the establishment of the office. As the number of South Korean visiting Quang Ninh has been on the rise, we want to further approach these travelers thanks to the office's opening," he said.
Quang Ninh already made plans to open tourism offices in Japan and South Korea but the province has decided to delay opening the office in Japan due to tough market conditions and high operational expenses. Therefore, Quang Ninh is only working on the plan on opening the office in South Korea, one of the top ten visitor-generating markets for Vietnam that the province is trying to tap more strongly.
South Korean arrivals to Vietnam have posted strong growth, with more than 700,000 tourists from this market coming to Vietnam last year and over 562,000 in January-September.
Quang Ninh welcomed more than 5.7 million visitors in the first eight months of the year, up 12% year-on-year, with over 1.6 million being foreigners, the provincial tourism department reports.