Aggressive Face-to-Face Marketing Targeting Major Japanese Travel Agencies Leads to Success in Attracting Groups Like Nu Skin Incentive Tour
About 3,000 Members of Singapore Herbalife Incentive Tour to Visit Korea in October... Active Collaborative Marketing
Busan City is actively conducting face-to-face marketing targeting major travel agencies in the Asia region to attract large-scale corporate incentive groups to Busan.
Noting that the number of Japanese tourists visiting Korea, which was 297,000 in 2022, soared to 2,316,000 in 2023, making Japan the top country for inbound tourists to Korea in 2023, the city identified that the preference for destinations in nearby countries with direct flights has increased due to factors such as the weak yen. Based on this, they launched proactive and aggressive face-to-face marketing efforts.
Face-to-face marketing, introduced as a new attraction strategy in response to the pandemic, involves directly visiting and persuading major travel agencies in each country, focusing on attracting corporate incentive groups from single countries, given that the pace of recovery varies by country. Through these efforts, in 2023, Busan succeeded in attracting over 13,000 incentive tourists from Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other countries.
In March of this year, the city directly visited four major outbound travel agencies in Japan to build networks and continuously listen to and reflect their concerns, resulting in the successful attraction of the 'Nu Skin Incentive Group' (June, 700 people).
Additionally, in October, the 2024 Singapore Herbalife Incentive Group (2024 Future President Team Retreat), consisting of about 3,000 people from 13 countries, is scheduled to enter Busan. It is expected to generate approximately 10 billion KRW in local economic impact.
The Singapore Herbalife Incentive Group event will be held from October 11 to 13 at BEXCO Exhibition Center 1, Halls 1 to 3, with about 3,000 employees from the Asia-Pacific region entering Busan. This achievement was made possible through united collaborative marketing efforts by Busan City, Busan Tourism Organization, BEXCO, and Busan MICE Alliance, who worked together from airport reception to farewell, sincerely wishing for the successful attraction of the event to Busan.
As competition among domestic and international cities intensifies, the city plans to continue various forms of proactive attraction marketing in cooperation with the Busan Tourism Organization, including on-site briefings, face-to-face marketing with key decision-makers, participation in MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions) specialized exhibitions, and invitational fam tours, to secure a competitive edge.
Park Geunrok, Director of Tourism and MICE at Busan City, stated, "Attracting large-scale corporate incentive groups carries significant meaning and value beyond just a single event, as it greatly contributes to city promotion and economic ripple effects," and added, "We will continue to devote our efforts to attracting MICE events through proactive outreach marketing, which will serve as a foundation for revitalizing the local economy."
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