The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 24th that they held the Korean tourism promotion event "Love Korea" in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, on the 22nd and 23rd, targeting Thailand's peak overseas travel season, the "Songkran holiday (April 12?16)."
In 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, about 570,000 Thai visitors came to Korea, making Thailand the largest Southeast Asian market for Korean tourism at that time. However, last year, the number of Thai tourists visiting Korea was about 320,000, only 56.7% of the 2019 figure.
This is interpreted as a result of the implementation of the electronic travel authorization system (K-ETA), which led to reports of denied entries and dampened the sentiment toward visiting Korea within Thailand. On the other hand, the favorable perception of K-culture in Thailand remains high. Accordingly, the Ministry and the Organization prepared the "Love Korea" event to spread a positive image of Korea.
A view of the 'Love Korea' event venue set up at Siam Paragon, a large shopping mall in downtown Bangkok [Photo by Korea Tourism Organization]
The event was held last weekend at Siam Paragon, a large shopping mall in downtown Bangkok. A total of 25 organizations, including airlines, travel agencies, regional tourism organizations (RTOs), and global online travel agencies (OTAs), participated to hold a special promotion for Korean travel products. In particular, spring season tourism products such as cherry blossom trips in Gyeongju, the host city of this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, and canola flower trips in Jeju attracted great interest. Over the two days, about 3,400 consultations were conducted, and the estimated sales including prior online promotions reached 1.52 billion KRW.
Additionally, a mini-concert themed on K-pop, which is gaining popularity in Thailand, was held along with a Korean tourism talk show and Bibigo K-food experience by local branches, offering diverse programs that attracted about 50,000 consumers to the venue. Especially on the 23rd, Minnie, a Thai member of the girl group (G)I-DLE, performed, providing a special experience for fans gathered on site. Furthermore, many Thais participated in the excellent Korean tourism content awards ceremony and K-pop dance competition, demonstrating the passionate enthusiasm for Korean culture and travel to Korea.
Kim Jong-hoon, Director of the International Marketing Office at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "According to the 2024 Overseas Hallyu Survey, the favorability toward Korean cultural content in Thailand is 83%, ranking third among 26 countries." He added, "The Organization will continue to leverage the high interest in Korean culture in Thailand by expanding cooperation with private companies and strengthening local marketing efforts to help restore Thai tourism to Korea."
The Organization plans to conduct a special promotion for Korean tourism in cooperation with global OTAs such as Traveloka and KKday until the end of May. In particular, they will launch a "1+1 airfare package" that allows travelers who purchase a flight ticket to Korea to use a round-trip domestic flight ticket for free, aiming to encourage visitors to explore various regions within Korea.
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