Attracting Tourists from China’s Three Northeastern Provinces with the "Xi Jinping’s Footsteps in Gyeongju" Theme... Korea Tourism Organization and Gyeongbuk Culture and Tourism Corporation

Gyeongbuk Culture and Tourism Corporation (President Namil Kim) and Korea Tourism Organization (President Park Sunghyuk) held the "POST APEC Group Tour Product Promotion and Sales Training Fam Tour" from March 6 to 10 for sales representatives of major local retail travel agencies in the three northeastern provinces of China, aiming to gain an early lead in attracting Chinese tourists to Korea.

This fam tour was organized to convert the growing demand for visits to Korea—driven by the temporary visa-free policy for Chinese group tourists (September 2025 to June 2026)—into actual visits. In particular, the three northeastern provinces of China (Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang) account for a high proportion of group tour product sales, with over 80% of all sales conducted through retail travel agencies. Taking into account this market characteristic, the program invited local sales staff to participate in focused tourism product training and field experience sessions.

Gyeongbuk Cultural Tourism Corporation and Korea Tourism Organization have launched efforts to attract tourists from China's three northeastern provinces with the theme of 'Xi Jinping's Gyeongju Footsteps.'

The core of this tour is connecting the symbolism of "POST APEC" and "Korea-China Friendship" with tourism content. By reflecting the friendly atmosphere formed by the successful hosting of the 2025 Gyeongju APEC Summit and Korea-China diplomatic relations in travel products, themed Korea tours centered on Gyeongju will be introduced, with the aim of boosting local sales of Gyeongbuk tourism products.

In particular, the focus will be on intensively promoting Gyeongju's tourism resources through the "APEC Korea-China Friendship Footsteps" themed itinerary, which includes sites visited by Chinese President Xi Jinping such as the Gyeongju National Museum and the original location of Hwangnam Bread, which he personally tasted.

The corporation plans to work with the Korea Tourism Organization’s Shenyang Office and major local travel agencies in northeastern China to expand the number of foreign tourists visiting Gyeongju by more than 20% compared to the previous year in the first half of 2026.

Lee Sanghun, Head of Marketing at Gyeongbuk Culture and Tourism Corporation, stated, "This fam tour goes beyond simply examining tourism courses; it is a process of directly conveying Gyeongju’s enhanced brand value—elevated by hosting APEC—to the front lines of sales in China. We will leverage the storytelling of the Chinese President’s footsteps to draw tourists from the three northeastern provinces to Gyeongju."

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