Danang tourism to further tap S. Korea

Speaking at a meeting between representatives of the Danang Tourism Association and Sacheon City on October 2, Nguyen Duc Quynh, vice chairman of the steering committee of Danang Hotel Association, noted that the number of South Korean arrivals in Danang City rises by 20%-30% each year.

In addition to multiple South Korean nationals living and working in the city, a score of Korean restaurants have been opened, and the city has seen some Korean residential areas being established. However, the number of South Korean tourists returning to Danang City remains modest.

“Most of the South Korean visitors to Danang City travelled independently and took tours,” Quynh said, adding that the expansion to Sacheon City was necessary to foster sustainable growth in the South Korean source market to attract more South Korean travelers, including meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition tourist arrivals.

Sacheon Mayor Song Do-gun remarked that the coastal city of Sacheon features many similarities with Danang City, including beach sports services and activities, ferries and cable car systems. The population of Sacheon now stands at some 120,000, and many of them travel abroad from Busan International Airport.

Song Do-gun also proposed the two cities’ Departments of Tourism sign a memorandum of understanding, stating, “We, initially, encouraged the two tourism promotion centers, tour operators and travel firms of both cities to introduce their products and services to each other in preparation for future cooperation.”

Huynh Tan Vinh, chairman of the Danang Tourism Association, pointed out that South Korea currently represents some 60% of the total number of international arrivals in Danang City, with over 100 flights operating between Danang City and some localities in South Korea such as Seoul, Busan, Musan, Deagu, Incheon and Jeji.

Data from the Danang Department of Tourism show that of the 2.4 million international arrivals in Danang City over the January-September period, over 1.3 million tourists were reported to have come from South Korea. The remainder came from China, Japan, Asia, Europe and the United States.