Come to Korea, the Land of BTS, Squid Game, and Son Heung-min... Accelerating Efforts to Attract Foreign Visitors

Korea Tourism Organization Announces 5 Major Strategies and 17 Tasks for Rebooting Inbound Tourism
Delegation Dispatch to Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka in July and New York, Chicago, LA in August

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] In response to the COVID-19 pandemic that had completely blocked inbound tourism, the government is launching marketing efforts to attract foreign tourists.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 25th five key focus tasks and 17 core projects for rebooting inbound tourism. Leveraging the globally popular K-content and Hallyu, they will hold Korean tourism roadshows in 50 major cities worldwide. In July, they will dispatch overseas tourist attraction teams to Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka in Japan, and in August to New York, Chicago, and LA, actively promoting tourist attraction efforts.

The five key focus tasks announced that day are ▲Rebuilding the inbound tourism ecosystem and strengthening the brand ▲Securing international tourism demand ▲Restoring local distribution channels ▲Revitalizing high value-added strategic markets ▲Hosting mega events and inbound tourism roadshows.

To rebuild the inbound tourism ecosystem, support will be provided to strengthen practical capabilities of domestic and international travel industries, promote early bird inbound travel products, boost inbound tourism through global video advertisements, and implement digital marketing using metaverse and other technologies. The organization started the 'Feel the Rhythm of Korea (Yeosu, Incheon, Pyeongchang edition)' campaign on the 20th to raise awareness of Korean tourism. Korean tourism honorary ambassador Son Heung-min and the Tottenham team’s visit to Korea in July will be used to spread the message of tourism resumption.

Major online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Klook and TripAdvisor will jointly hold a large-scale Korea travel expo by market. From May to July, joint airline ticket discount promotions will be conducted with national airlines to secure price competitiveness. For Southeast Asian regions like Thailand and Vietnam, where regular flights are insufficient, charter flight attraction will be actively pursued. Starting from the 25th, welcome kits and discount coupons have been provided to inbound foreigners mainly at Incheon Airport.

Local distribution channels will also be restored. The organization plans to invite numerous influential overseas figures to promote the development of inbound travel products. In the first half of the year alone, about 250 key figures from media and travel industries are scheduled to visit Korea. On the 24th, 28 travel industry professionals from the US and Canada, who recently visited Korea, became the first overseas travel industry group to visit the Blue House.

Qualitative growth of the travel market will also be pursued. Early normalization of high value-added strategic markets such as cruises, medical tourism, luxury, incentives, and corporate meetings will be promoted. At the end of this month, a group of 16 people participating in a Korean gourmet travel theme product will arrive in Malaysia for a 6-night, 8-day itinerary. The plan is to attract 355 people through seven representative luxury products in the future.

Korean tourism roadshows will be held consecutively in 50 major cities worldwide. Utilizing Hallyu, which has spread globally through K-content, they plan to encourage Korean travel.

To target global inbound interest groups, large-scale Hallyu comprehensive events including K-pop concerts will be held starting next month in Seoul and other major domestic cities (Boryeong in July, Incheon, Daegu, and Busan in October). The 'Wellness Tourism Festa,' which has gained increased interest after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the representative performance tourism festival 'Welcome Daehangno' will also attract potential inbound tourists.

Before COVID-19, in 2019, the number of inbound foreign visitors exceeded 17.5 million, reaching an all-time high with a growth rate of 14%. However, due to COVID-19, the number of foreign visitors to Korea last year dropped sharply to about 970,000, a level comparable to the late 1970s. Although the three major inbound markets?China, Japan, and Taiwan?have not yet reopened, the organization is focusing on restoring the daily life of foreign tourists enjoying Korean travel as soon as possible.

According to a survey conducted by the organization last year targeting 30,000 major inbound tourists, 6 out of 10 foreigners in their 20s and 30s expressed an intention to visit Korea within three years. Among the top 10 most eager inbound tourists who want to visit Korea before other countries, 4 expect to visit Korea this year, indicating high potential demand for inbound tourism.

Joo Sang-yong, Director of the International Tourism Office at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "Although the timing of China, our largest inbound tourism market, reopening overseas travel is uncertain, we will focus all efforts on the rapid recovery of the domestic inbound tourism industry, which has been in a long-term slump, by conducting systematic and effective marketing targeting major core markets such as the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, which are already open, and Japan and Taiwan, which are expected to open soon."