A fall scenery at Mt. Sorak, Gangwon Province. (Photo: Image today)

The Fall Tourism Week, which used to start in October with the onrush of the fall foliage season, will be advanced one month this year to take place starting Sept. 12.

This year’s Slogan is ‘Special Day with Special Tastes’ as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is set to extend its support to all those around the country from Sept. 12-29 to heal themselves during the specially-designed period.

The event was jointly organized with 17 cities around the country. The “10,000 Won for Happy Train Tour,” a steady seller during the tourism period, will take place at 20 travel courses for 2,880 tourists.

The 14 tour courses will begin from Seoul, and six courses will start from Busan, Gwangju, Wonju and Jeonju.

Those who can’t go on a tour during the designated period are invited to participate in a special campaign designed to improve the tourism culture in Korea.

Those interested in participating in the campaign are expected to write short pieces praising the campaign and describe what they want to do on Friday during the travel week.

They have to publish the posts on both Facebook and Instagram. The section team will call upon the winners to meet the campaign at their offices.

The 17 local autonomous organizations are scheduled to show off the special seasonal tour contents unique to their localities.

Busan Special City will show off tour programs entitled the Exploration of Shin-bok Road and Remembering the Winter Sea Tour, respectively, while Incheon Special City is set to unveil A Theme Travel to Won Island, and Environment-Friendly Island Tour.

Gwangju Special City is set to roll out programs entitled, A Travel with Artists, and An Artist’s Day, during the Fall Tourism Week.

Sejong City’s programs will be, Camping Trip Following the Stars, and Following the Autumn Road to Head to Sejong City.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo said Wednesday that the ministry is planning a special campaign to promote local tourism around the Liberation Day holiday of Aug. 15, as more South Koreans boycott travel to Japan in response to Tokyo’s recent decision to impose retaliatory export restrictions.

“If we could turn the falling demand for overseas travel into domestic travel, it would greatly help stimulate regional economies and boost domestic demand,” Park said during a conference on supporting local tourism hosted by the ruling Democratic Party at the Korea Tourism Organization in Seoul.

“We will provide a wide range of information on hidden attractions and summer tour packages with different themes.”

The government will make efforts to create a favorable environment for tourism by preventing tourists from being overcharged during the holiday season and by improving safety and hygiene management, the minister said, adding that the ministry would also support various local festivals through the fall.

“I ask those in the tourism industry to do their best as well. As the number of Japanese tourists is expected to drop, we will strengthen promotions in China and ASEAN countries,” he said.

Fewer Koreans have traveled to Japan since the second week of July amid growing anti-Japan sentiment, and the number of Japanese tourists is likely to decline further due to Tokyo’s actions, according to the minister.

Japan on Sunday advised its citizens to exercise caution when traveling to Korea, citing anti-Japan protests in the country.

“With the Japanese government’s decision to remove Korea from its ‘white list’ (of countries that benefit from simplified trade procedures), tourism exchanges between the two countries are expected to go down,” Park said.

“The government is therefore closely observing market trends, and fully preparing (to prevent losses) to the tourism industry.”