Year of Visiting Korea, Full Effort to Diversify Inbound Tourism Market
Marketing Targeting Countries with Diplomatic Relations, Total 120,000 Visitors Expected
The government is launching an all-out Korean tourism marketing campaign centered on countries commemorating diplomatic relations in celebration of the '2023 Visit Korea Year.'
At the '2023 Frankfurt Hallyu Expo' held in Frankfurt, Germany, the audience is enjoying the opening performance. [Image source=Yonhap News]
On the 28th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that it will conduct Korean tourism marketing targeting a total of 120,000 people in India, Germany, and Indonesia, countries commemorating diplomatic relations, in cooperation with the Korea Tourism Organization.
In India, which marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year, the Ministry held the '2023 Korea Tourism Festival' from the 25th to the 27th, focusing on New Delhi and Gurgaon, areas densely populated by the upper-middle class. About 50,000 local Hallyu fans gathered at this festival.
According to the 2023 Overseas Hallyu Survey, India, with a population of about 1.4 billion as of 2023, is the world's most populous country and a key growth market expected to see overseas tourism expenditure (USD 42 billion, approximately KRW 56 trillion) increase by more than 1.8 times compared to 2019 in 2024.
In particular, India ranks within the top five in all key indicators such as the popularity and consumption share of Korean cultural content as of 2022, highlighting its high Hallyu popularity and making it a country with great potential for growth in the Korean inbound tourism market based on this.
At this event, focused marketing of Korean inbound tourism products utilizing K-culture was conducted in collaboration with Thomas Cook, India's largest travel agency, among others.
Especially, K-food and K-beauty linked programs featuring domestic brands such as Lotte and Innisfree were very popular on site. A temple food demonstration by Venerable Woo Gwan, director of the Bongeunsa Temple Food Culture Research Institute, targeting the Indian vegetarian population, also attracted high interest.
A temple food expert, Monk Ugwan, conducting a cooking practice session at the CIA Culinary School in New York. [Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]
In Germany, which marks the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the '2023 Korea Culture and Tourism Expo' was held in conjunction with Frankfurt's largest cultural and arts festival, the '2023 Museums Riverbank Festival,' from the 25th to the 27th, conducting MZ generation-tailored marketing targeting about 50,000 consumers.
Germany is the largest economy in Europe and ranked third in outbound tourism expenditure (domestic residents traveling abroad) worldwide last year, making it an important market. The maximum number of German outbound travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic reached about 108 million (based on 2018), making it a strategic market requiring focused efforts to expand European inbound tourism.
At this event, marketing focused on Korean inbound tourism products reflecting local preferences was promoted in collaboration with agencies specializing in international student identity cards (ISIC), targeting the local culture where prospective German university students take a 'Gap Year' after high school graduation to find their aptitude and interests.
Additionally, the Ministry will hold the '2023 Korea Culture and Tourism Grand Festival' in Jakarta, Indonesia, from the 31st of this month to the 10th of next month, promoting large-scale Korean inbound tourism products to about 20,000 consumers.
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country in 2023 (about 280 million people) and a key growth market in Southeast Asia, ranking ninth in Korean inbound tourism scale in 2019. In 2022, the Korean cultural content brand power index reached first place worldwide, and the region has a high level of Hallyu interest, evidenced by the establishment of the world's first comprehensive permanent Hallyu promotional center, 'KOREA 360.'
To translate Hallyu interest into tangible inbound tourism results, this event offers significant discounts in cooperation with seven domestic and international airlines and Mandiri Bank, a local state-owned bank, conducting a large-scale Korean inbound tourism product promotion through the top 10 Indonesian travel agencies in terms of sales performance.
Park Jong-taek, Director of Tourism Policy at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, "Diversifying the inbound tourism market is essential to secure stable tourism demand and enhance the competitiveness of the tourism industry. Taking advantage of the 2023 Visit Korea Year, we will conduct aggressive marketing targeting mid- to long-distance markets such as Southeast Asia and the Americas to promote a qualitative leap in the Korean inbound tourism market."
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