The Busan Sea Festival in the Republic of Korea. Photo courtesy of KTO

The annual event will feature a series of activities to promote the cultural and tourism attractions of the two countries, including a showcase of new destinations, tour products and music and art performances, with the participation of Vietnamese and South Korean famous artists.

The Korean agency expects to showcase its country’s friendly and beautiful images as well as cultural and tourism exchanges between the two countries.

Besides the festival, the KTO will also organise various events to promote the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s tourism in Vietnam, including a road show on South Korean MICE tourism in Hanoi in July and the Korea Travel Awards in Hanoi and HCM City in December.

In the second half of this year it plans to launch the Korea Tour Card, Namhaean, for tourists visiting the Namhaen region such as Busan, Gyeongsangnam-do and Jeollanam-do.

The card, a foreigner-only transportation card available nation-wide, includes local benefits.

The RoK received more than 215,500 Vietnamese visitors in the first five months of this year, up 32.3 per cent year-on-year, according to the KTO.

The number of South Korean tourists visiting Vietnam in the first quarter of this year topped 1.1 million, a year-on-year increase of 24.4 per cent.

Ha Long Bay, Hanoi, Danang, Hoi An, and Phu Quoc were their most popular destinations.

VNese, RoK artists gather at cultural festival

As many as 80 artists from Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) are to perform together at the Korean Cultural Exchange Festival on June 30 in Hanoi.

It’s part of an effort to boost mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries and introduce the RoK to the world.

The festival will promote the traditional culture and art of the RoK. A highlight will be Yeong San Jae, a Buddhist ceremony which was added by UNESCO in 2009 to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Twenty monks from the RoK will perform the ceremony, which is a re-enactment of Buddha’s delivery of the Lotus Sutra on the Vulture Peak in India. Through rituals and dances, the philosophical and spiritual messages of Buddhism are expressed.

Hallyu (Korean wave) fans will be eager for a concert gathering famous stars such as singer Budy, boyband Samchongsa and girlband A-Daily. Singer Luu Thuy Linh and eight Vietnamese dance groups will join the performance.

Song Kyo-young, director of the Korean Institute for Culture and Economy Promotion, the organiser of the event, said this is the first time the programme has been organised in Vietnam. He hoped Vietnamese partners to work together to organise the programme annually.

“Our institute is a non-profit organisation with a mission to honour UNESCO-recognised heritage and bring the traditional cultural values of Korea to the world,” he said.

“With the success of the festival in Vietnam, we will organise similar events in other Southeast Asian countries.”

Entry to the festival, starting at 1pm at the Grand Plaza, 117 Tran Duy Hung Street, Hanoi, is free.

VNS/VNA