Vietnam hopes South Korea would share valuable experiences on the process of building and developing cultural industries, especially focusing on high-tech fields that  Korea has advantages, said Vietnam’s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung at a meeting with his South Korea counterpart Park Bo-gyoon this week. 

South Korean and Vietnamese enterprises attend the festival. Photo: To quoc Newspaper

The meeting took place during the 2022 Vietnam Tourism - Culture Festival, which is held in Seoul, South Korea, from October 13 to 19 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In order to continue promoting cooperation and elevating the strategic partnership and comprehensive development in many fields to new heights, the Vietnamese minister wished to collaborate with the South Korean side in tourism and sports.

 Hung said Vietnam expected to welcome one million Korean arrivals to Vietnam this year, hoping for a breakthrough in tourism cooperation in the coming times.

“It is necessary to  facilitate for travel between Vietnam and South Korea for citizens of both countries,” he added.

According to the Vietnamese General Statistics Office, South Korean tourists were the second largest group of visitors to Vietnam, with 4.3 million arrivals in the pre-pandemic period. In the first nine months of 2022, of the nearly 1.9 million international visitors, some 500,000 are Koreans thanks to the resumption of air services between the two countries.

The Vietnamese minister also expected South Korea to introduce soccer, martial arts and archery coaches to Vietnam.

For his part, South Korean Minister Park Bo-gyoon said that many Korean citizens want to travel to Vietnam. "I have been to Vietnam many times and am very impressed with your country and people, especially Ha Long Bay," he said.

Minister Park Bo-gyoon affirmed that South Korea and Vietnam have many similarities in culture, sports and tourism, and believes that cooperation between the two countries will achieve more successes in the future.

 The Vietnam Tourism and Culture Festival 2022 was part of the two large-scale festivals held annually abroad by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to promote Vietnam's country, people and tourism. 

Vietnam is currently developing a Strategy for Cultural Industries Development to 2030, with a vision to 2045.

In recent years, Vietnam and South Korea have regularly organized cultural festivals and promotional events in many aspects, contributing to cooperation and cultural exchange, enhancing mutual understanding of the peoples of the two countries.