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Feb 24, 2019 / 07:58

North Korea - US summit: Golden opportunity for Hanoi tourism

Many experts said that this event will make Hanoi and Vietnam more widely known as a destination of peace.

The second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un later this month is considered as a “golden opportunity” for Hanoi's tourism and businesses have already taken actions to seize this opportunity.
 
The second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un is expected to take place in Hanoi on February 27 and 28.
The second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un is expected to take place in Hanoi on February 27 and 28.
Experience of Singapore
The first historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June helped the island nation's tourism industry make money. It is known that Singapore spent about US$15 million to organize the historic event, most of which for security.
However, according to Meltwater Media Analysis, the promotional value that Lion Island received from the summit was worth more than US$565 million. According to estimates by Vice President Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Michael Chiam, with an average spending of more than US$440/per day, only 4,000 reporters and security personnel coming to Singapore during the three-day conference brought to the national island at least US$5.3 million.
Service businesses in Singapore were quick to launch a series of food and beverage series related to the names of the two leaders or use traditional American and North Korean culinary ingredients. For example, two types of cakes named after the nickname of US President Donald Trump and Korean leader Kim Jong Un made by a restaurant in Singapore were sold out every day and the number of visitors to the restaurant increases by 20%. Traditional rice dish Nasi Lemak of Singapore with traditional ingredients of the US and South Korea added was highly demanded.
Meanwhile, market research firm STR Global estimated the occupancy rate of hotels in Singapore amounted to 81% in the second quarter of 2018. This was a high record since 2013 and far exceeded the 70% average in the Asia Pacific region in the same period. Two hotels where US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un stayed had a two-digit increase in revenue per room for 3 days from June 10 to 12, 2018, and they were promoted for free thanks to international media constantly reporting on the meeting.
According to Meltwater, about 8,000 online articles mentioned Shangri-La and St Regis hotels. For Capella hotel, where Trump and Kim met on June 12, 2018, this number reached 20,000. Besides, news about the Trump - Kim summit attracted about 2.36 billion views. In the United States alone, the keyword "Where is Singapore" was searched more than 2 million times in just one day before the summit. The above figures show that the US - South Korea summit really brought great value for promoting images for Singaporean tourism.
Destination for peace
Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Ha Van Sieu told local media that the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is a big event with global impact.
This is a great opportunity for Hanoi in particular and Vietnam in general to promote the country, people and attractive destinations through about 3,000 international agencies and newspapers covering the summit.
Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Tourism Association Trinh Thi My Nghe said that US President Barack Obama tasting bun cha, French President Macron drinking coffee and walking in Hanoi's Old Quarter or an Australian Prime Minister running around Hoan Kiem Lake were broadly reported worldwide by international media, thereby showing Hanoi as a safe and hospitable destination in Vietnam.
Many experts said that this event will make Hanoi and Vietnam more widely known as a destination of peace.
In order to take advantage of this rare opportunity, Deputy Director General of VNAT Ha Van Sieu said that the VNAT has promptly worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and proactively provided information and data about Vietnam tourism.
At the International Media Center of the summit, the General Department of Tourism is displaying identification images of the country and people and arrange tours for international journalists who want to tour Hanoi and surrounding areas.