Tourism Organization Launches Korea Promotion in Thailand, ASEAN's Top Source of Visitors

Commemorating the Korea-Thailand Mutual Visit Year: 'Yes! Korea Travel' Event Held

Thailand, the country with the highest demand for visits to Korea in Southeast Asia and a hub of the Korean Wave, is showing a decline in the number of tourists visiting Korea. Additionally, recent cases of entry refusals for Thai tourists due to the implementation of the K-ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) system have negatively impacted visits to Korea, making the recovery of travel sentiment to Korea urgently needed.

Thai dance teams who won awards at the 'YES! Korea Travel' K-POP Cover Dance Contest are taking a commemorative photo.
[Photo by Korea Tourism Organization]

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 22nd that they held ‘YES! Korea Travel’ in Thailand’s three major cities?Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket?to celebrate the ‘2023~2024 Korea-Thailand Mutual Visit Year.’

In 2019, the number of Thai visitors to Korea was about 570,000, making it the largest market in Southeast Asia. However, in 2023, the number dropped to about 380,000, which is 66% of the 2019 figure. This event was planned to spread a positive image of Korean tourism throughout Thailand.

‘YES! Korea Travel’ started in Chiang Mai (February 24?25), proceeded to Bangkok (March 8?10), and concluded in Phuket (March 23?24). A total of 58 organizations, including the Korea Tourism Organization, local governments, travel agencies, and airlines, participated to provide various Korean tourism information and experiences. The program included a K-pop cover dance contest, Korean cooking classes by famous Thai chefs, K-beauty and hanbok experiences, among others.

In Bangkok, the event captivated many Thai visitors with a Taekwondo performance by the Thai national team, a special performance by Hallyu star Lee Je-hoon, and a Korean tourism talk show. Approximately 30,000 people attended the event in Chiang Mai, and about 70,000 in Bangkok.

Notably, during the event period, on-site promotions were held, achieving sales of about 1.2 billion KRW in airline tickets and travel products, confirming the high demand among Thais for visits to Korea.

Jo Hee-jin, Director of the International Marketing Office at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, “Now is the right time to capture the overseas travel demand of Thais expected during Songkran, Thailand’s biggest holiday,” adding, “The organization will continue to promote various projects to stimulate the subdued travel sentiment to Korea and create a travel boom.”

The Korea Tourism Organization plans to hold the event for general consumers in Phuket over two days starting from the 23rd to strengthen Korean tourism promotion and discover latent demand among Thai tourists.

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