Director-General Kim Ki-hong of the Tourism  

Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The following is an exclusive interview with Director-General Kim Ki-hong of the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. He said the government has decided to also focus on the growth of domestic tourism in addition to its policies to further boost foreign tourism. The government will also support the growth of the MICE industry and publicly accept applications to build and operate casino resorts in Korea, particularly to woo Chinese tourists whose numbers have been rising rapidly.

Question: Would you please, enlighten us on the tourism-spurring plan that came out of the 2nd Tourism Promotion Expansion Meeting?

Answer: The 2nd Tourism Promotion Expansion Meeting held on Feb. 3 announced the measures to strengthen the competitiveness of our tourism promotion plans and means to fire up the tourism industry while the 1st tourism promotion meeting dealt with ways to make tourism in Korea convenient to foreign tourists. We also dealt with ways to develop domestic tourism along with inbound tourism. The significance of the February meeting is in the fact that it dealt with the means to bring a boom to domestic tourism by nurturing its growth.

In detail, we have to take measures to change the support to SME tourism companies with the 50 billion won Creative Tourism Fund to develop “smart tourism” in order to build a base for Creative Tourism, the setting up of a tourism week, this year’s tourism city designation, and other ways to spur the development of domestic tourism, the development of diverse tourism resources such as an ecology tourism, farm-fishery town tourism, sports tourism, and others, taking advantage of various tourism resources in the country.

Dir.-Gen. Kim Ki-hong of the Tourism Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, 

Sports and Tourism (MCST), announces a package of steps related to 

the “Be Kind to Foreign Tourists” Campaign to the related organization 

representatives at the Korea Tourism Organization building in Seoul on 

Jan. 29.(Photos:MCST:article by SK Lee)

Q: What are major government policies and their directions to invigorate the tourism industry this year?

A: In broad terms, they can be divided into two parts such as expanded foreign tourist arrivals and domestic tourism. In the area of tourism attraction from overseas, we should think about making the structure of foreign tourism a high valued-added one by upgrading its quality as a commodity as the tourism account is still in the red and dependent on the shopping fees for profit to show the tourism operation structure is still poor, although the number of foreign tourism arrivals in the country totaled 12.17 million last year.

For the qualitative development of the tourism industry, we have to develop and nurture tourism related to MICE, medical clinics, cruises, leisure and sports, ecological tours, traditional culture, tourism for physical experiences, and others that can be upgraded to high value-added ones in fusion with other tourism resources. We also have to look into lodging facilities, tourism guidance, shopping, and foods to upgrade the qualities of the tourism service sector to make foreign tourists find comfort while staying in Korea and can move freely under diverse government policies to further boost the development of tourism both in terms of quality and quantity.

To induce the happiness of the people and stable progress in the development of tourism to boost the domestic economy, the growth of domestic tourism remains a big task to take care of. We have to expand the regional tourism contents and upgrade the convenience through the supply side of the tourism industry. We have to develop the demand side of tourism by reforming the vacation system for public servants and the support for workers’ tours and setting up a tourism week.

We also will set up a system to develop regional tourism on a sustainable basis by making the residents of the regional communities play a major role to spur regional tourism.

Q: What are the prospects for both inbound and outbound tourism this year?

A:  The foreign tourist arrival target has been set at 13 million tourists, up 7 percent from last year. Last year, Chinese tourists came to Korea in record numbers, up 52 percent from the preceding year at 4.32 million, and for this year the number of Chinese tourist arrivals in Korea will not likely increase by that margin again due to stricter tourist regulations in China on outbound tourists. However, 5 million Chinese tourists are expected to come to Korea this year. Japanese tourists to Korea have been falling in numbers due to the low value of the yen, but the number is likely to hit 3 million due to the various efforts by tourism industries, the related industries, and authorities both in Korea and Japan.

We will also try to find new markets to attract tourists to Korea such as the countries in Southeast Asia and Russia with strategic marketing aimed at diversification of the tourist markets overseas. We plan to expand the tourism promotion campaign programs in Russia in particular with 2014-2015 designated as the Year for Tourism Exchanges between Korea and Russia with the visa exemption agreement between the two countries coming into force beginning this year.

Outbound tourists from Korea totaled 14.84 million last year due mainly to the strong value of the won and the number is projected to hit 15 million this year with the value of the won continuing to be strong. The government plans to provide safe and clear information concerning the safety situations in foreign countries that Korean travelers visit often. From last year, the government has been promoting the standard tourism information formats on tourism products and information among the international tourism agencies in Korea.

Q: Can you please tell us about the tourism week to be designated between May and September this year?

A: The government plans to designate a tourism week for 11 days in the spring and the fall to invigorate domestic tourism, which has been in the doldrums for the past five years or so, and conduct huge campaigns to push domestic tourism.

Large businesses will be encouraged to allow their employees to take vacations during these periods and schools will also be invited to establish days off for students during those periods so that they can take enjoy various programs presented during those periods. 

Q: What are some of the government plans to use “Hallyu” (the Korean Wave) abroad to attract more foreign tourists to Korea?

A:   We have to have the strategies to create new Hallyu products to cope with changes in global tourism brands and environments by market. We have been engaged in the development of various entertainment related tourism products using K-Pop and Hallyu stars and Hallyu dramas on TV to attract wedding tourism and products and beauty tourism products, attracting foreign films to be shot in Korea. It’s the same for individual tourists developing tourism products such as high-quality Hallyu performances.

In the case of K-Pop, the “Live” hologram performances being presented at the K-Pop hologram house will be the model to develop K-Pop holograms for foreign tourists. The Hallyu stars’ performances presented at Wapop, an exclusive facility for K-Pop performances, will be copied to create sustainable Hallyu tourism materials for foreign tourists visiting Korea.

The popularity of beauty care and hair styled after Hallyu stars have been on the rise in such countries as Japan, China and those in Southeast Asia and we plan to take advantage of the situation in creating Hallyu tourism products for foreign tourists.

Q: What are some of the measures to develop the MICE industry in Korea?

A: As the MICE industry is a high value-added one in terms of its impact on such business areas as lodging, restaurants and shopping and other related businesses, and because Korea ranked fifth in the world in terms of the number of MICE events held based on figures collected by UIA, the government will do all it can to support the MICE industry to grow based on the third international conference hosting strategy for 2014-2018 with diverse policies including financial support and system reform. The government may introduce the international conference areas designation system in the country.

The government also plans to publicize the tourism programs connected to large convention halls and exhibition halls at Korean tourism public relations centers overseas so that they will be able to impact the tourism industry.

Additionally, the regional convention facilities should be expanded as well as provide financial support to help attract MICE events and host them in Korea at designated cities for international meetings to enhance the regional MICE competitive power.

Q: What are some of the policies to promote casino tourism for foreign tourists?

A:   The success of Singapore’s casino resorts has motivated neighboring countries in Asia to build and operate similar resort complex in their countries. When an attractive casino resort is built in Korea, it will be able to bring many Chinese tourists and make them revisit the casino complex to lead the development of the high value-added portion of the Korean tourism industry.

The government plans to invite builders and operators of casinos exclusively for foreigners and reform the qualifications to include the credit ratings on a realistic base so more luxurious casino resorts can be built in Korea to attract more foreign tourists.