VietNamNet Bridge – More and more South Korean tourists are coming to the country but local tour operators have been struggling to serve them as most Koreans are inclined to buy services from their fellow countrymen’s establishments.

South Korean tourists are seen in HCM City.

Last year saw around 700,000 Koreans traveling to Vietnam, and the number hit 562,000 in January-September, but local travel firms were able to cater to just a trivial number of them.

Tour services are mainly offered by South Korean firms that are either based in South Korea or those established in Vietnam by South Koreans living here.

“We cannot tap this market. We used to work with some South Korean partners on taking tourists to Vietnam but all ended in failure,” said Tu Quy Thanh, director of Lien Bang Travelink.

According to Thanh, it is not easy to gain access to this market as most tourists do not speak English while only a few Vietnamese tour guides can speak Korean.

Vo Anh Tai, general director of Saigontourist Travel Service Company, said the number of South Korean tourists served by his firm was small in the past time and the firm arranged tours for special occasions only.

According to a retired official of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, such a situation is not only found in Vietnam but also in other countries with South Korean firms offering services right in the domestic market.

These Korean firms are sending tour guides and bringing tourists into Vietnam although such acts violate the Tourism Law, he said.

“We used to impose fines on those violations in two consecutive years but no improvement has been made,” he said.

Source: SGT