Sancheong Expo Organizing Committee Goes All Out in Marketing to Attract Visitors from Thailand and Vietnam

Successful Local Briefing Sessions Held in Bangkok, Thailand and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

The Organizing Committee of the Gyeongnam Sancheong World Traditional Medicine Anti-Aging Expo announced on the 5th that it visited Bangkok, Thailand, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from June 28 to July 2 for a 4-night, 5-day schedule to hold local briefings aimed at attracting foreign visitors.

As of the end of April this year, the ranking of inbound visitors to Korea by nationality is Japan with 480,000, the United States with 290,000, China with 250,000, Thailand with 150,000, and Vietnam with 120,000. Excluding the Greater China region, where U.S. and passenger routes have not fully recovered, Thailand and Vietnam hold a significant share.

The Organizing Committee judged that since the number of outbound travelers from Thailand and Vietnam has surged recently due to the COVID-19 endemic, intensive local promotion targeting locals fascinated by K-beauty and health-related Hallyu is necessary to develop expo-linked products, and thus proceeded with this briefing session.

Group photo of the Sancheong Expo Organizing Committee at the local briefing session in Thailand.

First, the local delegation visited the Korean Cultural Center in Bangkok, Thailand, on the 28th of last month to inform officials about the Sancheong Expo and actively requested promotion to raise awareness of the Sancheong Expo among visitors to the cultural center. Additionally, promotional materials for the expo were placed at the information desk, utilizing overseas Korean Cultural Centers for publicity.

On the 29th, an expo briefing was held for officials of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) in Bangkok, Thailand. This briefing, pushed forward through the linkage with the Planning and Administration Committee of the Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council, was conducted for about 200 tourism industry representatives and officials in Thailand, introducing overall information about the Sancheong Expo exhibition hall and events.

Furthermore, local marketing activities were concurrently conducted by introducing and promoting tourism products linked to the Sancheong Expo to local tourism industry officials.

Most local tourism company representatives attending the briefing showed great interest in herbal-related products such as cosmetics and expressed active willingness to recruit local tourists to visit the expo.

On the 30th, together with Park Seong-jin, head of the Gyeongsangnam-do Ho Chi Minh Office in Vietnam, the delegation visited the Ho Chi Minh Tourism Department and met with officials including Nguyen Thi An Hoa, Director of the Tourism Department, requesting cooperation for active support from the tourism department to promote the expo through the public network in the area and to enable local travel agencies to organize domestic tourism products including the Sancheong Expo.

That evening, a Sancheong Expo briefing was successfully held for about 80 travel and tourism industry and promotional officials in Vietnam. During the briefing, a business agreement was signed between the influential local promotional company influencer Gonaryeon and the Sancheong Expo Organizing Committee, focusing on cooperation for visitor attraction and marketing, drawing attention.

Also, Park Hang-seo, the Vietnamese national football team coach and Sancheong Expo ambassador, visited the event site, greatly elevating the atmosphere. As a Vietnamese football hero, he received explosive popularity and attention from travel agency officials at the event and actively conducted promotional marketing activities by introducing the attractions and various events of the Sancheong Expo Donguibogam Village to local travel agencies and officials.

In particular, through active introduction of the mystique of the Gui-gam Stone, Seok-gyeong, and Bok Seok-jeong within the herbal medicine experience center located in Donguibogam Village, high interest was induced among local participants.

A representative of a travel company attending the event said, "The Hallyu wave is strong in Vietnam, and there is great interest in traditional herbal medical tourism, so the themes of herbal medicine and anti-aging at the Sancheong Expo are excellent subjects to meet the demand of Vietnamese tourists," adding, "Based on the information learned through today's briefing, we will develop additional travel products linked to the Sancheong Expo and visit Sancheong with Vietnamese tourists."

Also, a tourism promotion official said, "The Sancheong Expo will receive great response from Vietnamese tourists who are very interested in K-beauty," and "This briefing was a meaningful occasion as we learned a lot of information and human networks necessary for composing expo products, and I definitely want to visit the Sancheong Expo this September."

Park Jeong-jun, Secretary General of the Organizing Committee, said, "This local briefing in Thailand and Vietnam was intensively conducted at a time when travel demand is surging worldwide due to the COVID-19 endemic, providing a good opportunity to deliver key information necessary for composing tourism products linked to the Sancheong Expo to local tourism and travel industry officials," adding, "We will do our best to attract foreign visitors through continuous cooperation with tourism and promotional companies."

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