Tourism Organization Targets European Market at ITB, the World's Largest Travel Trade Show

The Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 11th that it achieved approximately 24.17 billion KRW in inbound tourism attraction results at the Berlin International Tourism Exchange (ITB), held from the 5th to the 7th.

Visitors at the Korea Tourism Promotion Pavilion at the ITB Travel Expo. [Photo by Korea Tourism Organization]

The ITB exhibition, held every March, is the world's largest international tourism fair. This year, it recorded increases of 10.9% and 5.6% compared to the previous year, with about 100,000 visitors and participation from approximately 170 countries, proving the recovery of the global tourism industry.

The Korea Tourism Promotion Hall was set up in the Asia-Pacific Hall at the center of the venue, covering an area of 241㎡. Its impressive design, inspired by saekdong (colorful stripes) and ceramics, attracted the attention of many visitors.

Marking the second year of the "Visit Korea Year," the organization operated the "100 K-Culture Tourism Events" held nationwide throughout the year, as well as regional experience events in Seoul, Busan, Chungnam, and other areas.

Additionally, at the regional tourism briefing session attended by over 120 overseas travel industry professionals and local media, they introduced attractive Korean tourism content such as lifestyle-based Seoul tourism, Busan-style workation and Visit Busan Pass, and Chungcheongnam-do’s food, entertainment, and festivals.

In particular, the organization provided a total of 26 consultation booths to domestic travel agencies and tourism venture companies, facilitating business meetings with local buyers. During the exhibition, through business consultations, a total of 603 consultations were conducted, achieving sales performance estimated at approximately 24.17 billion KRW (based on consultation results).

On March 5th, a special Korean tourism event for the German travel industry was held at the Korean Cultural Center in Germany.
[Photo by Korea Tourism Organization]

On the 5th (local time), a special event was held at the Korean Cultural Center in Germany, inviting local media and travel agencies to focus on newly emerging inbound demands such as educational tourism and workation, followed by a Korean food networking dinner.

Lee Hak-joo, Director of the International Tourism Headquarters at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "We were able to confirm that interest in Korean culture, food, and other K-Culture elements directly led to active business consultations between domestic and international travel industries." He added, "This year, we will target student travelers staying long-term for gap years and Korean language training, as well as business travelers seeking bleisure and workation tourism, to create new inbound demand."

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