Record High of Middle Eastern Visitors to Korea
High-End Korean Tourism Consultant Awards Ceremony Held
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 29th that they held the final K-Tourism Roadshow of the year at the Grand Park Hyatt Dubai on the 28th, conducting promotional marketing targeting the Middle East region, which has recorded the highest number of visits to Korea to date.
This roadshow was promoted in conjunction with Qatar's largest international tourism fair, the 'Qatar Travel Market,' to facilitate more business consultations with local travel industry professionals. A total of 23 organizations from Korea, including tourism companies, travel agencies, and medical institutions, participated in this roadshow, resulting in 640 business consultations. The estimated sales amount reached approximately 1 billion KRW.
The Middle East is a region with many people interested in K-content. Through this roadshow, Korean content such as Korean cuisine, K-pop, and K-dramas were showcased, and various experience zones, including life-cut photo booths, were operated to attract enthusiastic responses from local consumers.
Additionally, the Korea Tourism Organization held an awards ceremony for 'High-end Korea Tourism Consultants' who contributed to attracting high-value Middle Eastern tourists by launching high-end Korea travel products in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia) region, and shared the achievements made in the Middle East this year.
Up to September, about 30,000 visitors from the Middle East GCC visited Korea, showing a 36.8% increase compared to the same period last year and a recovery rate exceeding 112% compared to the pre-pandemic period. The total number of visitors from the Middle East in 2024 is expected to exceed 35,000, setting a record high. Although the absolute number of Middle Eastern visitors is not large, they are classified as a high-value market with significant tourism consumption effects due to their characteristics of enjoying long-term luxury travel with family units.
To secure outbound demand from the Middle East, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization launched the public-private Middle East inbound tourism consultative body 'Alam Arabi Korea' in February. A total of 36 companies across six sectors?accommodation, medical, beauty, food and beverage, K-culture, and others?are active as member companies, providing customized services for the Middle East.
They comprehensively support strengthening the capabilities of these member companies to attract Middle Eastern visitors through education, business consultations, and familiarization tours with local outbound travel industries, as well as joint development and marketing of luxury products.
Ahn Hyo-won, head of the Asia-Middle East team at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "We plan to expand the service scope of Alam Arabi Korea to include transportation and convenience, and gradually increase the number of member companies. Additionally, we will promote various projects targeting the Middle East market, such as collaborating with OTAs and SNS channels to promote member companies' inbound travel products."
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