Thien noted that the RoK is a leading market of Vietnam’s tourism sector.

In 2016, Vietnam welcomed more than 1.5 million RoK tourists, a surge of 38.7 percent year on year.

Over 1.93 million RoK visitors traveled to Vietnam in the first 10 months of 2017, up 53.9 percent over the same period of 2016. The figure is likely to reach 2 million in the whole year. 

RoK tourists are the second largest foreign visitor group in Vietnam, only after Chinese.

Can pledged that he will work hard to contribute to the promotion of Vietnamese tourism and forge stronger tourism partnership between Vietnam and the RoK.

Ly Xuong Can (Lee Chang Kun in Korean), is the 31st generation offspring of King Ly Thai To (974-1028). He was born in the RoK and naturalized in Vietnam in 2010. He has become a member of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee since 2014.

Can has been the President of the Vietnam-Korean fork culture association that he formed in 1994 with an aim to foster friendship between the two peoples.

He was appointed as the Tourism Ambassador of Vietnam for the 2017-2020 tenure following a decision of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry on November 21. In December this year, Minister Thien will officially hand over the decision to Can during the Vietnamese Culture and Tourism Festival in the RoK.-VNA