Mad about K-pop, Vietnam courts top global acts to boost tourism appeal

[HO CHI MINH CITY] When Blackpink – the famous K-pop group from South Korea – announced it would perform two shows in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi last month, it was the sky-high ticket prices that caused many to do a double-take.

The cost of the cheapest ticket was 1.2 million Vietnamese dong (S$68.30), with the most expensive VIP seats going for as much as 9.8 million dong. On the morning of the second concert on Jul 30, local media reported that certain VIP tickets were being sold for up to 30 million dong each.

Demand for these two shows was always going to be high, given that this was Blackpink’s final stop in Asia for their ongoing Born Pink world tour. Some 67,000 spectators packed the My Dinh Stadium for what industry players described as the “largest music event” ever staged in Vietnam.

The ticket prices didn’t do much to deter fans, even though the average monthly salary of a Vietnamese worker is around seven million dong.

Tran Tuan Tai, a finance lecturer at New Zealand’s Massey University, put together a chart that showed how the ticket prices were out of reach for most people in Vietnam. He found that Vietnam’s ticket price, relative to GDP per capita, was the highest among the other stops of the Born Pink World Tour.

Interestingly, the most expensive Blackpink ticket in Vietnam – at 9.8 million dong – was even more than a similar ticket in other countries such as Indonesia (3.8 million rupiah, or S$335) and Singapore (S$398), which both have higher GDP per capita than Vietnam.

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Fuelling the demand in Vietnam is the fact that the country is usually not a common destination for global musical acts, said Tai. He noted that many performers typically head to places such as Thailand and Singapore when they visit South-east Asia.

Tai said that Vietnam, with a population of 100 million, has a large and growing middle class, with an appetite and desire to spend on entertainment and cultural activities such as K-pop concerts. According to the World Data Lab, Vietnam’s middle-class population is estimated to be one of the fastest growing in the world between 2020 and 2030.

According to figures from the non-profit organisation Korea Foundation, Vietnam had 13.3 million “hallyu” (K-pop and South Korean pop culture) fans in 2022 – the third highest in the world, after China and Thailand.

“Paying high prices for concert tickets does not mean that Vietnamese people are rich, but rather it underscores their willingness to spend,” said Nguyen Cuong Bach, chief executive of tourism-focused marketing agency Asia Lion. “This demonstrates a more mature tourism market for entertainment in Vietnam.”

Economic impact

The two Blackpink concerts had a significant positive impact on Vietnam’s economy. Hanoi’s Department of Tourism said the city received 170,000 visitors during the two days of the shows, of which 30,000 were foreigners. In all, they spent about 630 billion dong.

The average occupancy rate of hotels in Hanoi in July was estimated at 60.8 per cent, an increase of 19.2 percentage points from the rate in July 2022. The number of visitors at Hanoi’s tourist destinations over the Jul 29-30 weekend also went up by 15 per cent to 20 per cent compared to the previous weekend.

In the weeks leading up to and just after the concerts, Pham Ha, the founder and chief executive of cruise operator LuxGroup, observed a significant increase in bookings from South Korean and Chinese visitors for cruises in Ha Long Bay, a Unesco World Heritage site about 160 km from Hanoi.

Over the past year, he has also seen a 50 per cent rise in the number of Vietnamese customers for LuxGroup’s pricier services compared to pre-pandemic days.

“Younger Vietnamese are more willing to spend on high-end tourism with experiential and cultural touches. They also enjoy travelling several times a year instead of once a year like before,” he said. 

“Given Vietnam’s population of 100 million, this is definitely a potential market for global music event organisers and an opportunity for Vietnam to boost local tourism.”

Strong government support 

After the Blackpink show, Tran Sy Thanh, chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, sent a thank-you letter to the band, noting that the concerts enhanced Hanoi’s image and position as a peaceful, safe and friendly destination.

“Hanoi expects to hold more similar large-scale events to strengthen the cultural and entertainment industry – deserving of its position as a modern, civilised and devoted capital city,” he wrote.

Lang Minh, a lecturer in media and digital literacy and an educational consultant at MindX, said the Vietnamese government’s approach to the cultural industry was a way to exercise “soft power” – the capacity to influence others by non-coercive means.

“Vietnam is suffering from huge horizontal pressures derived from surrounding countries with rapidly developed cultural industries such as Thailand, South Korea, China and Japan,” he said.

“It pushes Vietnam to pay attention to enhancing its cultural industry, not only to earn money but also to underscore its national values.”

His take is that Vietnam wants to take advantage of the popularity of K-pop to harness both the soft and hard economic benefits with South Korea, one of its most important trading partners. Last December, South Korea and Vietnam’s bilateral relationship was upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership.