"Capture Gen Z Overseas"... Promoting Domestic Tourism with 3D Avatar Games

Tourism Organization Promotes Korea Visit Linked with AR Service 'Zepeto'
Considering Resumption of Tourism Exchange Post-COVID-19, 11 New Normal Projects Underway

Photo by Zepeto

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The Korea Tourism Organization is promoting a virtual experience service of popular domestic tourist destinations using 3D avatar games to attract overseas Generation Z (born 1995?2005) tourists to Korea.

The Tourism Organization announced on the 23rd that it plans to encourage user-generated content (UGC) about domestic tourist sites starting in the second half of the year by utilizing Naver Z Corporation's augmented reality (AR) avatar service, "Zepeto."

Zepeto is a service where users can create AR avatars and experience virtual spaces, similar to the popular game "Animal Crossing." When major domestic tourist spots such as Namsan N Tower, Gyeongbokgung Palace, and Myeongdong are recreated through virtual maps, users’ customized avatars can visit these areas, engage in various activities, and take photos or videos to upload on social networking services (SNS). Launched as a mobile application in 2018, this service has over 150 million global subscribers and more than 10 million monthly active users. The main users are young women aged 13 to 24.

A Tourism Organization official explained, "Generation Z corresponds to the 21?30 age group, which accounts for the highest proportion of inbound visitors to Korea. We are promoting this service to reflect the characteristics of this generation, who are familiar with games and digital devices, and to associate Korea as their first overseas travel destination."

Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Along with this, the Tourism Organization is preparing 11 projects divided into four themes?digital campaigns, untact marketing, K-quarantine leadership, and Generation Z-targeted marketing?to prepare for the resumption of international tourism exchanges after COVID-19.

A representative project utilizing UGC is a video content contest to discover hidden attractions nationwide and promote them overseas. In September, an online tourism expo will be held where local governments, regional tourism organizations, travel agencies, hotels, and airlines will promote products and conduct one-on-one consultations with overseas buyers through YouTube channels and local government foreign language promotional pages.

Other initiatives include producing a COVID-19 overcoming relay support video featuring Hallyu stars, Korean travel with "online guides," large-scale inbound travel promotion activities in partnership with online travel agencies (OTA) and airlines, and a tourism site reconstruction architecture contest using popular online games. Last month, the "New Normal Era K-Tourism Promotion Team" was also launched to oversee these projects.

Hwang Seung-hyun, Director of the International Tourism Division at the Tourism Organization, said, "Although offline inbound tourism marketing has become difficult due to COVID-19, this is also an opportunity to dramatically advance digital marketing. We expect to lead the global tourism market in the post-COVID era through these 11 major projects."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.