Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) President Byun Chu-seok delivers his opening speech at a ceremony to officially open its headquarters in Wonju, Gangwon-do, on March 10. 

Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) held a ceremony to officially open its headquarters in Wonju, Gangwon-do, on March 10. The move ushers in an “era of Wonju.” 

KTO’s new headquarters was dedicated at the Innovative City of Wonju last November. KTO demonstrated a determination to achieve its second founding at the ceremony. 

Among the roughly 300 people on hand at the ceremony were Director General Kim Chul-min in charge of tourism policy at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), KTO President Byun Chu-seok, Gangwon-do Gov. Choi Moon-soon, Wonju Mayor Won Chang-mook, Rep. Kim Ki-sun, Rep. Lee Kang-hoo, and Director General Kim Chul-min in charge of tourism policy at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Dir. Gen. Kim of the MCST delivered a commemorative speech on behalf of MCST Minister Kim Jongdeok in which he stressed realizing the target of attracting 20 million foreign arrivals and the development of the Korean tourism industry.

“We’ll devote ourselves to reinvigorating the tourism industry for people’s happiness, making KTO a bridge to attract 20 million foreign arrivals, and leading the creation of a virtuous cycle of the tourism ecosystem,” said KTO President Byun Chu-seok in his commemorative speech. To this end, Byun enumerated the three key buzzwords — changes, communication, and coexistence.

KTO President Byun demonstrated his determination to realize a 2nd founding of KTO through the reestablishment of the identity and direction of the public entity. KTO depicted the corporation’s identity and direction suiting the ushering of KTO’s era of Wonju as the term “KTO-ism.” This move is in line with KTO’s strategies to strengthen the competitive edge of the Korean tourism industry by combining Wonju’s strong points ? kind people, convenient infrastructure, and diverse contents ? and KTO’s goals. The first phase scheme of the five-stage KTO-ism strategies  calls for making Wonju a city pursing happiness through tourism, and the second phase one aims at making tourism attractions in Gwangwon Province global. The last and fifth phase strategy calls for developing the Korean inbound and outbound markets into global tourism leaders.  

KTO will closely cooperate with the Gangwon provincial government to ensure balanced development of the region by invigorating the local tourism industry and making the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games a success, Byun added. 

“Gangwon-do, Korea’s No. 1 tourism destination, aims at attracting 110 million Korean tourists and 2.5 million foreign arrivals during the year,” Gov. Choi said. He went on to say that his provincial government will come up with tourism policies to make the province all-season, high-demand tourism destination, which is favored and visited most frequently by both Koreans and foreigners.

KTO is determined to give a shot in the Japanese inbound market, which is struggling with setbacks. On the same day, “Chosinsung,” an idol singer sextet, who is active on the Japanese stage, was appointed as Korea’s first honorable tourism ambassador in 2015. KTO expects the signer group, who is causing a hallyu sensation in Japan, to contribute to attracting Japanese tourists.KTO’s new headquarters has one basement floor and 14 above-ground floors. As of the end of January, 462 KTO employees had moved into the new structure.

A view of KTO headquarters in Wonju.(Photos:KTO)