Korea acts to woo Vietnam tourists after MERS outbreak

Vietnamese tourists in South Korea.

Kang Sungghil, chief representative of KTO in Vietnam, told a press conference on Tuesday that MERS had dealt a blow to South Korea’s tourism industry.

Last month alone saw 60% of the bookings for South Korea tours canceled in some markets like Japan and China. The disease also hit revenues and operations of travel firms, airlines and other corporate partners of KTO, he said.

But there have been positive signs for Korean tourism as the northeast Asian country has reported no new MERS infections or deaths in the past 20 days.

Kang said Korea would soon declare the MERS outbreak is over.

KTO has coordinated with five airlines and seven travel firms to bring Vietnamese travelers back to Korea under the travel stimulus program described as the biggest of the year for the Vietnamese market.

According to Le Thi Thu Trang, head of marketing at KTO in Vietnam, KTO will give VND1 million and shopping vouchers applicable to the Lotte duty free shop at Incheon International Airport to the first 1,200 customers buying Korea tours at Vietravel, Hanoi Red Tours, Vietrantour, Saigontourist, TransViet Travel, TST Tourist and Thang Long GTC.

Besides, there are 1,100 gifts, cards to access VIP Hub Lounge at Incheon and shopping vouchers of the Lotte duty free shop for 1,100 customers buying air tickets to Korea in the period as part of the program running until September 21.

Besides support from KTO, travel firms have pledged to offer Vietnamese tourists discounts and tours to more destinations in Korea.

Le Thi Kim Anh, deputy director of Vietnam Airlines’ northern region office, said the carrier would provide a 30% discount for tourists traveling to Korea in groups with return airfares starting from US$220, free ticket cancellations and an extra 10kg baggage allowance.

South Korea’s Ministry of Justice has also decided to exempt visa for groups of tourists organized by travel firms accredited by the Korean embassy and guaranteed by one of the 500 biggest enterprises in Vietnam from July 6 to September 30.

People, who were granted visa to Korea from March 1 to June 30, will have their visas extended from three months to six months.

“We look to attract 200,000 Vietnamese tourists this year. However, due to the MERS outbreak, we expect the figure to range from 160,000 to 180,000,” Kang said.