Korea Tourism Organization Takes Full Measures to Attract Foreign Tourists to Korea

New President Hosts Overseas Branch Managers Meeting, 'Inbound Strategy Review'
Extensive Promotional Marketing Including Special Sales Attraction Team and Korea Visit Campaign Launched

Participants of the '2022 Malaysia Local Korean Language Teacher Training Program Visit' are experiencing traditional tea ceremony at Keimyung Hanhakchon, Keimyung University Seongseo Campus in Daegu. After completing the Korean language teacher training course, they will work as Korean language teachers in Malaysia. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Kim Jangsil, the newly appointed president of the Korea Tourism Organization, held a meeting with heads of 32 overseas branches and launched a special Korean tourism promotional delegation, taking all-out measures to attract visitors to Korea.

On the 11th, the Tourism Organization set the following key strategies at the overseas branch heads meeting: ▲ maximizing foreign visitor attraction and supporting early recovery through all-out marketing efforts ▲ focusing on strategic markets such as Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong ▲ securing a leading position in the global overseas travel market by utilizing K-content centered on the Korean Wave. They decided to actively pursue multifaceted projects tailored to each market.

On November 2nd, the organization will form a 'Special Korean Tourism Promotional Delegation' of about 100 people, including local governments and related industries, and visit Taiwan under the theme 'Meeting Korea Again' to hold B2B consultation meetings and promotional briefings.

Two days later, on November 4th, they will operate a Korean promotional pavilion with 56 booths jointly run by 14 local governments and institutions at the Taipei International Travel Fair (ITF), Taiwan's largest tourism expo. This is the largest single-theme pavilion booth among participating countries.

Earlier, in July, the organization dispatched a Korean tourism attraction delegation to Japan to promote industry exchanges. In September, they set up a Korean pavilion at the 'Tourism EXPO Japan 2022' held in Tokyo for the first time in four years, promoting together with 13 local governments and RTOs (local government tourism organizations).

They will also actively carry out promotional marketing projects primarily through online channels. Starting from the 13th of this month, when international tourism officially resumes in Taiwan, 34 companies including airlines and travel agencies will jointly promote a 'Safe Tourism Special Promotion.'

For Japan, the core target is Generation Z, who can travel abroad immediately, and the highly interested group with strong intentions to visit Korea within a short period. A large-scale campaign with the catchphrase 'Exciting Korea' is underway.

Image of Japan's campaign for visiting Korea. Photo by Korea Tourism Organization

According to a recent local survey conducted by the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA), over 90% of Generation Z respondents expressed a desire to travel abroad. To convert this potential demand into actual visits to Korea, a FIT (Free Independent Traveler) Korea campaign will be conducted jointly with five major OTAs, including Japan's largest online travel agency Rakuten, until the end of the year.

Additionally, targeting Hong Kong, a large-scale promotional campaign called ‘Fly to Korea Again’ (再次起「韓」) will be launched from the end of October in cooperation with about 30 domestic and international tourism companies.

They will also actively promote projects inviting influential overseas travel industry players to promote Korean tourism and support networking among industries. On the 12th, the 'Korea Themed Tourism Expo,' opening under the slogan 'Only in Korea, Especially for You,' will invite 84 buyers from 17 countries worldwide.

On the 19th, at the 'Korea Cruise Travel Mart' held in Yeosu, Jeollanam-do, 26 representatives from global ultra-luxury cruise lines will visit Korea to discuss cruise operation plans.

Furthermore, as part of full-scale collaboration with the aviation industry, joint promotions will be promoted. To disperse demand concentrated in the metropolitan area to other regions, a one-month airline ticket discount promotion will be held from the 24th with seven low-cost carriers (LCCs), including Jeju Air and T’way Air, focusing on routes to regional international airports.

K-pop concerts held in October in Daegu, Busan, and other cities will be directly utilized as Hallyu content to attract foreign tourists. In November, a luxury group charter flight of about 50 people from North America is also scheduled to visit Korea.

Seo Youngchung, head of the International Tourism Headquarters at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, “Although many obstacles remain in the recovery of the global tourism market, the remaining three months will be a very important period that will determine the future trend of foreign visitor attraction. With the new president in office, we will put all our capabilities into recovering the record high of 17.5 million visitors in 2019 amid international tourism market competition and create an opportunity for Korean tourism to make a great leap forward.”

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