Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) kicked off a massive campaign to boost the number of foreign tourist arrivals in Korea by inviting some 200 officials of tourist agencies from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to Seoul from July 22 to 25. The mission aimed to assure them that MERS had run its course.
The tours were arranged specifically for them. They included the most famous tourist sites in Korea and displays of the most recently developed tourist package products. Korea Aviation Corp and the Korean Ginseng Corp. will participate in the program as supporters. Airlines such as Asiana Airlines and Korean Air chipped in to win back Chinese tourists by offering free airline tickets at events, free baggage charges, special discounts for group tourists, and offers of coupons in duty free shops and department stores to lure them back to Korea.
The event is part of the KTO’s “One Hundred Days Strategy” to attract foreign tourists back to Korea by convincing them that MERS is long gone. The KTO decided to approach the Chinese sphere first, knowing that it will take time to get tourists from all corners of the world to visit Korea again now that the contagious disease has been arrested and the country is running normally as far as tourism is concerned. The KTO made up the program alarmed by the reductions in the number of Chinese tourists at the end of June with only 205,541 foreign tourists visiting the country compared to 1.13 million at the same time last year, down 82.1 percent, lead the way by Chinese tourists.
The KTO has also decided to take time to introduce new tourist courses in Korea, including the Yongdong Wine Train, the Mullae Way in Chuncheon, and the Cave Theme Park in Gwangmyung, among others, which are still unknown to many foreign tourists. In particular, the Wine Train tour on July 24 was scheduled to take advantage of the growing popularity of wine in China. Vice President Kim Young-pho of the KTO and other key executives will accompany the Chinese tourist agents to listen to their opinions on the package tour program and also convince them the Korea is safe from MERS.
Head Suh Young-choong of the KTO Chinese Team, said he got an excellent impression from what the travel agents said during the event that their reactions to those new tourist joints in Korea appeared very favorable. The KTO plans to invite the journalists from the Chinese sphere in Asia to Korea at the end of July to have them recover their trust in Korean tourism, which will be followed by a friendly exchanges of tourist groups of both government officials and private sector people between Korea and China.
The KTO also has a plan to take advantage of the Chinese reporters assigned to Korea, who use SNS, Facebook and Youtube, among other IT media, so that they can reports on their experiences in Korea, especially with regard to the renowned tourist sites and facilities in Korea to their Chinese readers and viewers.
The KTO will guide them to famous and historic sites in Korea, including legacies left over from the ancient Kingdom of Baekje, a registered world heritage with UNESCO, the Boryong Mud Festival, a concert with ancient Korean musical instruments, and arrow slinging events and other Korean cultural events. They will be filmed and the videos will be shown on IT media so that more Chinese people can see them. The reports made by the Chinese college students attending Korean colleges and universities are being considered to have a very good impact on the Chinese people in spreading awareness that Korea is a safe country to visit as far as MERS is concerned.
The KTO also plans to utilize the Chinese college students in Korea by inviting them to experience the Korean medical facilities at hospitals and medical clinics to show the Chinese people that Korea is in the clear.
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