Approximately 400 travel industry officials from Korea and abroad assembled in Seoul to offer business consultation opportunities in the Korean inbound tourism industry at the Korea International Travel Mart 2012 (KITM 2012), which opened on June 7 in Seoul for a five-day run. 

KITM 2012, held at COEX in Samseong-dong and the Jamsil Lotte Hotel, coincided with the 25th Korea World Travel Fair (KOTFA 2012), an exhibition to offer integrated Korean travel content to visiting foreign buyers.  

About 100 foreign tourism-related organizations for inbound products from China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and the Americas were invited to KITM 2012, the third and last one hosted during the Visit Korea Years 2010-2012. KITM is Korea’ s distinctive international tourism exhibition offering consultation opportunities for both domestic and international tourism related organizations of inbound travel products. 

Among those on hand at the opening ceremony of the travel fair were Shin Dong-bin, chairman of the Visit Korea Committee; Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kwak Young-jin; Presidential Senior Secretary for Tourism Promotion Ahn Kyung-mo; Korea Culture and Tourism Institute President Park Kwang-moo; and Prof. Lee Ki-jong of Kyunghee University. 

On the second day, the KITM offered a Korea Tourism Seminar and the B2B travel mart as well as a familiarization tour of local tourist spots outside of downtown Seoul for foreign participants, said Hong Ju-min, secretary general of the Visit Korea Committee. 

High-quality tourism products under the Visit Korea Years Promotion Program, theme products on transfer, train travel, and casinos, as well as provincial tourism items including the Visit Jeollabuk-do Year 2012 and the Jeju “Olleh” tour were presented during the Korea World Travel Fair. 

H0ng said KITM is an inbound travel mart for Korean and international travel industry officials designed to facilitate sales of Korean tourism products, to introduce theme-oriented tourism products related to well-being, shopping, train travel, cuisine, casinos and theme parks, and to publicize mega events being promoted by local governments for foreign tourists and others. 

A selection of 97 travel planners from China, Japan, Europe, the Americas, and Southeast Asia who have dealt with inbound tours were invited for B2B meetings with 100 Korean tourism-related officials from local inbound travel agencies, hotels & resorts, theme parks, casinos, and local governments, Han said. 

KITM 2011 invited 153 people from foreign counties, including media people, but the number of invitees to KITM 2012 was scaled down to include a selection of officials from travel agencies which have once involved Korean inbound travel planning and sales via overseas branches of the Korea Tourism Organization and other travel product planners interested in the development of Korean travel products. Inviting 53 people from the Chinese sphere was designed to publicize mega events to be held across the nation during 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Korea and China and Expo 2012 Yeosu, Han said. #