Minister Yoo In-chon of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism emphasized the importance of developing tourism products that can highlight the unique characteristics of local regions, mentioning the Harbin Ice Festival in China.
On the 14th, Minister Yoo attended the New Year's meeting of tourism professionals held at Lotte Hotel Seoul in Jung-gu, Seoul, where he referred to the Harbin Ice Festival. He meant that watching the Ice Festival confirmed the potential of local tourism products.
Minister Yoo visited Harbin from the 6th to the 9th to watch the games of Korean athletes participating in the 2025 Winter Asian Games, cheer them on, and encourage local officials working to ensure the safe operation of the event. During his visit, he held talks with Gao Zudan, Director of the General Administration of Sport of China, to discuss ways to expand sports exchanges between the two countries.
Yoo In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is giving a greeting at the 2025 Tourism Industry New Year's Meeting held on the 14th at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
The period of Minister Yoo’s visit coincided with Harbin’s famous festival, the Ice Festival.
Minister Yoo said, "I heard that they cut the ice from the Songhua River to build very large-scale structures and attract tourists, and that the number of tourists during the Ice Festival period alone reaches about 3 million." He added, "Harbin has a population of 10 million and a much larger area than Seoul, but it is practically a frontier in Northeast China. There is nothing particularly special, but seeing how they attract numerous tourists with just the Ice Festival in such cold weather made me realize that even local regions need their own (distinctive) festivals or events."
Minister Yoo also said, "A significant number of tourists visiting the Ice Festival were domestic Chinese tourists. I thought that local governments in our country should also carefully plan tourism products that can attract domestic tourists first, even if not foreigners."
On the same day, Lee Kyung-soo, chairman of the Korea Tourism Association Central Council, explained in his greeting that although the number of tourists last year almost recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels, revitalizing local tourism remains a challenge. Chairman Lee said, "Despite various difficulties such as the economic recession, the number of domestic outbound travelers last year recovered to 99% of pre-COVID-19 levels, and the number of foreign visitors to Korea also achieved a 94% recovery. However, foreign tourists visiting Korea are still concentrated in the metropolitan area, so this year the goal is to enable foreign tourists to visit various local regions."
Minister Yoo emphasized that to attract tourists to local areas, it is effective for two or three regions to join forces and develop tourism products, rather than focusing on just one specific area.
Minister Yoo In-chon of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (sixth from the right) and tourism industry officials are cutting a commemorative rice cake at the 2025 Tourism New Year's Meeting held on the 14th at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
Minister Yoo also stressed that the government’s goal of attracting 18.5 million foreign tourists this year must be achieved. Last year, the government set an ambitious target of attracting 20 million foreign tourists, but the actual number was 16.37 million. They aimed to surpass the record high of 17.5 million set in 2019, just before COVID-19, but fell short. Considering the difficult circumstances this year, the government set the target at 18.5 million.
Minister Yoo said, "Honestly, I wanted to exceed 20 million, but considering the various difficulties, I lowered the target to 18.5 million this year, which I feel a bit uneasy about, but I will definitely achieve this goal."
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