In the first five months of this year, over 1.3 million South Koreans visited Vietnam, accounting for 30 percent of total foreign arrivals.

Tourist destinations such as Nha Trang, Danang, Hoi An and Phu Quoc are the most popular with South Koreans.

After Vietnam reopened its borders to foreign tourists in March 2022, airlines have been racing to launch new direct air routes connecting Busan and Daegu cities with Danang, Nha Trang, HCM City and Hanoi.

Last year, South Korea became Vietnam's largest source of foreign tourists with 770,000 arrivals.

In recent years, a series of famous South Korean stars such as actors Eugene, Lee Jun Ki, Hyo Yeon have travelled to Vietnam, further contributing to promoting Vietnam’s tourism to South Korea.

Lee Jae Hoon, Chief Representative of the Korean Tourism Organization in Vietnam, said that Vietnam was one of the important markets for South Korea’s tourism.

“We’ll actively promote tourism activities in the Vietnamese market from now until next year,” he added.

As of early June, South Korea had welcomed 163,000 tourists from Vietnam, reaching 73 percent compared to the same period of pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

With nearly 200,000 KRW (USD150) in each per-capita card transaction, Vietnamese tourists spent the most among international visitors to South Korea in 2022, according to credit card and financial service company BC Card.

Nguyen Hoang Oanh, director of HCM City-based TopTravel Company, said in addition to traditional tours to Seoul, the company has launched visa-free tour packages to new destinations such as Jeollanam-do and Jeollabuk-do via charter flights from Danang and Nha Trang.

South Korea aims to attract about 400,000 Vietnamese tourists in 2023 through a series of tourism promotion activities in Vietnam.