Gyeonggi-do Launches Pilot Service for Tourist Sign Language (Soeo) Cultural Tourism Guides

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will deploy sign language cultural tourism interpreters at major tourist sites in the province as early as this fall.

On the 25th, Gyeonggi Province announced that starting in September, it will provide a pilot service of sign language interpretation by cultural tourism interpreters at tourist sites in the province to improve the tourism satisfaction of the hearing impaired.

Earlier, the province initiated sign language interpretation training for the first time this year to train cultural tourism interpreters with sign language skills and provide customized sign language interpretation for the hearing impaired.

Since April, a specialized course including basic sign language and practical scenarios has been operated, with a total of 29 people completing the training.

There are about 570 cultural tourism interpreters at 160 tourist sites in the province. Among them, 29 cultural tourism interpreters interested in sign language interpretation have completed basic sign language interpretation training, and the province plans to coordinate deployment plans and provide pilot sign language services on-site at places such as Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon and Namhansanseong Fortress in Gwangju starting as early as September.

Although cultural tourism interpreters are not professional sign language interpreters and there may be some shortcomings, the province expects the satisfaction of the hearing impaired to increase compared to before.

Choi Yong-hoon, head of the Tourism Division of the province, emphasized, "The sign language interpretation training introduced for the first time this year is the beginning of providing customized tourism interpretation services," adding, "We will continue to expand related training to provide maximum satisfaction to various tourists."