Hong Kong students participating in the 'Digital Korea Study Tour Program' operated by the Korea Tourism Organization.
[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 7th that its online program for foreign students to explore Korean school trip destinations and interact with Korean students is gaining high popularity.
The Tourism Organization is implementing the ‘Digital Korean School Trip Program.’ In this program, foreign students interact with Korean students through video conferencing. It also offers virtual experiences of Korean food, K-pop, famous tourist attractions, and more through videos, serving as a digital exchange content in the COVID-19 era.
The Tourism Organization’s Hong Kong branch first conducted the digital exchange program on April 15 for 120 middle school students from Christ College in Hong Kong. Since then, interest within Hong Kong has increased, and so far, a total of 3,900 students from 20 schools have applied to participate. This number surpasses the 3,209 Hong Kong students who visited Korea on school trips before the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019.
In Taiwan, the program started last month targeting Kaohsiung Girls’ Senior High School, with an expected annual participation of around 400 students. In Japan, the program will be conducted from July for about 1,200 students. The Tourism Organization plans to continuously expand the program by reflecting the requests of each school.
Kim Yongjae, head of the Northeast Asia team at the Tourism Organization, stated, “We will restore the halted global education and exchange for students through the Digital Korean School Trip Program,” adding, “We hope this will serve as an opportunity to establish a foundation for market leadership in the recovery of school trips to Korea after COVID-19.”
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