The Việt Nam Tourism Travel Mart (VITM) this year hosted 150 booths of South Korean localities and companies.

In the last year, South Korea has received over 420,000 Vietnamese tourists, the largest number in Southeast Asia and the fifth most in the world to South Korea.

Việt Nam also received 3.6 million South Korean visitors, the highest number in the world to Việt Nam.

Việt Nam News reporter Lê Hương chats with Kim Yeong-cheol, director of Gumi City’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, on the sidelines of the VITM.

Kim Yeong-cheol, director of Gumi City’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau.  VNS Photos Lê Hương

Is this the first time your city has participated in the VITM?

Yes, this is our first time presenting in Việt Nam and in the VITM. I was stunned to see so many Vietnamese people are interested in tourism. I know that many Vietnamese people like to visit South Korea and I would like to advertise Gumi City as a new destination for Vietnamese people.

What are the main tourism activities in Gumi?

Normally, visitors often come to see industrial factories. We host the Samsung complex there and there is a museum for the complex, where visitors can learn about production lines in the factory. We also have a Dongshin noodle plant there, where visitors can experience making noodles.

Gumi City also has beautiful landscapes and ten ancient pagodas dating back 1,000 years.

In spring, there are cherry blossoms, and in autumn, lotus and yellow maple leaves fall. There are many festivals there in autumn.

In November, we have an exciting big noodle festival. Last year, cooks from many countries and territories joined the festival. A cook from Bắc Ninh Province of Việt Nam offered noodles there, too. Many South Koreans liked his dish. Yesterday, I visited his shop here and he said he would join the event this year.

How many tourists come to Gumi every year and how many Vietnamese?

We receive some three million tourists each year. I don’t have the exact number of Vietnamese coming there. But there is a community of 160,000 Vietnamese people living in Gumi City.

Around 440 factories are in Gumi and they all have intentions to cooperate with Việt Nam. So there will be much cooperation between Gumi City and Việt Nam in the future.

Chairman of VITA Vũ Thế Bình (2nd from  right) visits Gumi''s booth at the VITM.

What do you expect at this event?

I hope through VITM more Vietnamese people will know about Gumi.

We want to cooperate with the Việt Nam Tourism Association to organise FAM tours to Gumi. Maybe in the future, we can build a tour from Seoul to Gumi and then to Busan instead of the Seoul-Busan tour like it is now. It takes some 1.5 hours to drive from Seoul to Gumi.

We are a small industrial city and expect to receive more visitors with new tourism products.

We will further co-operate with VITA as this is a potential relationship.

In 2025, Gumi will host the Asian Economy Conference, which will gather around 1,250 people from 45 countries and territories.

And I know that coach Park Hang-seo is a pride of South Koreans in Việt Nam.

In 2002, he made great contributions to bring the South Korean football team to the World Cup qualifying round.

I hope we can join more tourism promotion exhibitions and events in Việt Nam.  VNS