Korea is one of the countries with the most developed sports in Asia. In major sports arenas such as the Olympics, ASIAD, World Cup, Asian Cup, Korea always ranks high.
With good professional achievements, in addition to state budget sources, Korean sports can earn money from socialized sources as well as investment and sponsorship from domestic and foreign enterprises.
To have a developed sports economy like today, Korea itself has made efforts with its sports strategy for nearly 40 years. That is to organize international-scale events, which is also the core thing that helps this country gain huge economic benefits and spread unique cultural influences.
At the Vietnam Sports Economic Forum, Mr. Oh Yeong Woo - former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea - shared: "Over the years, Korea has hosted many major sporting events (Mega Sport Events) such as the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, the 2002 Japan - Korea World Cup, the 2014 Incheon ASIAD, the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and a number of other world single-sport tournaments.
Korea's successful hosting of the 1988 Olympics brought tangible results such as stadium construction and road traffic systems, and intangible effects such as enhancing the country's image, helping Korea gain experience in organizing major events...".
Mr. Oh Yeong Woo said that the 1988 Olympics brought about great economic benefits with about 2.7 trillion won (equivalent to 2 billion USD) for investment and infrastructure construction; about 400 billion won (300 million USD) to restore the tourism industry and increase the number of foreign visitors and about 330,000 jobs were created.
Notably, the 1988 Olympics were an opportunity to showcase Korea’s uniqueness and beauty to the world. For example, the number of foreigners visiting Korea was less than 2 million before the Olympics and has steadily increased since the Olympics to 17.5 million visitors per year in 2019 (before the COVID pandemic).
In addition, the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup event was also a stepping stone for this country to grow comprehensively. The total economic effect of the tournament was about 8.9 trillion won (equivalent to 6.6 billion USD).
"I want to emphasize the importance of promoting Korea's image through those major sporting events. Thanks to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Korea's idol culture (Halyu) has spread all over the world, the country's image has changed a lot and ultimately brought huge economic revenue to Korea," said the former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea.
Mr. Oh Yeong Woo also said that although Vietnam is facing many economic difficulties, it can overcome them and needs to take risks in investing through sports events to develop the economy in general and the sports economy in particular, while promoting the country's culture.
In fact, while countries like Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia... have organized many major tournaments such as the Olympics, World Cup or ASIAD, Vietnam only stops at organizing the SEA Games (in the Southeast Asian region).
The facilities, related infrastructure and most importantly the current economy do not allow Vietnam to host large-scale sporting events. Preparing to host a major tournament can take 10, 12 or even 15 years.
Vietnamese sports still rely on the state budget and the level of socialization of sports is not high. Therefore, the question of whether to risk investing in organizing international sporting events or not is still open.
