A view of the outdoor Suanbo Hot Spring in Chungcheongbuk-do. (photo: Chungcheongbuk-do)

Question: Please enlighten us about the province’s progress in its preparation for tourism events for Tourism Week in the fall?

Answer: We are in the process of putting together around 10 tourism programs for Tourism Week connected with local tourist sites and historic legacies and special events unique to the province’s history. Guitar performances on the train with special foods native to the province are among the events scheduled. Also included among the special events is the photo zone certification shots to be put on SNS with prizes presented for excellent photos.

Also, the prizes will be given to excellent works written by those who traveled on trains with free passes for their trips. Also in the cards is the selection of exemplary tourism-related business firms such as restaurants, and lodging which participated in the discount campaigns for tourists by the associations of those business entities and publicize them on posters and stickers.

A view of the Cheongnam Dae, the Presidential Mansion in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do. (photo: Chungcheongbuk-do)

Q: Please tell us some of the interesting plans to be staged during Tourism Week by the province?

A: There will be a number of events during Tourism Week for the tourists to participate in such as the guitar playing on trains traveling across the province providing fried eggs, food, and beverages, including ciders for the tourists to remember the trip in the future scheduled to take place from Oct. 3-4, along with international events to take place at popular tourists sites.

The Osong International Bio industry Expo and other events and festivities in the province and related tour courses will be good for drumming up tourism in the province during Tourism Week.

There also will be the contest for those who take photos in the photo zones and tourism sites in the province and put them on SNS with the chance to win prizes worth from 5,000 won to 10,000 won in coupons.

Also, tourists are invited to take photos in the eight popular tourism sites in the province and win prizes. There will also be “Let’s Travel Together! To Make A Round Trip of the Province on Free Passes.” Cash prizes will be given to the excellent reports on the mission accomplished.

There will also be the recommended tour courses related to international events and autumn festivals with discounts. The Osong International Bio Expo and the Cheongwon Life Festival with recommended tour courses. The regional festivals around the recommended tour course will be searched and recommended to the tourists as they will make very good events for tourists and the province for publicizing its tourism resources to the world.

A scene of a mono-rail on the hills around Jecheon, Chungcheongbuk-do.

(photo: Chungcheongbuk-do)

Q: Can you explain to us the province’s plans to attract foreign tourists to the province?

A:  The passengers at the Cheongju International Airport has exceeded 1.3 million for three years in a row to rank the 5th in the country with the foreign passengers using the airport in the first half of this year coming to 120,000, up 125 percent YoY with the Chinese tourists taking up 97 percent of the total at 119,000. The number of the Chinese tourists arriving at the airport are projected to expand continuously now that the airport has been designated as the port of entry in Korea for foreigners with no entry visa. During April and July this year, the Chinese passengers with no entry visas arriving at the airport numbered 13,943.

The director-general said the province has steadily made a great effort to attract more foreign tourists to the province. The Cheongju airport has been given the rights to allow the foreign tourists for 72 hours without entry visas on April 6, 2014 and the airport began to launch the flights to Shanghai, China. In the second half of this year, the province will try to obtain the rights to launch the regular air flights to a number of additional cities in China including Dalian, Harbin and Yenchin and chartered flights to other Chinese cities such as Xian, Nanjing, and Wanzhou in addition to the 89 air routes with stops in the airport. The province held 16 sessions to introduce the tourism sites and facilities to travel agents overseas and 12 fam tours for foreign travel agencies from 2013 and August, 2014.

At the same time, the province has taken actions to improve the tourism facilities in the province. The province hired a Chinese expert at its unit in charge of the overseas marketing, while putting up sign boards in multiple languages, including English, Chinese and Japanese.