Tourism Organization's Intensive Marketing in China... K-Tourism Roadshow in Beijing and More

The Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 6th that it will accelerate the recovery of the Chinese inbound tourism market by consecutively holding K-Tourism roadshows in Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai, China.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization plan to hold roadshows consecutively starting in Guangzhou on the same day, followed by Beijing on the 25th and Shanghai on the 27th.

The Chinese inbound tourism market to Korea has recently shown a clear recovery trend. Last year, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Korea reached approximately 4.63 million, reclaiming the top position in the inbound market. According to Korean tourism statistics, about 360,000 Chinese visitors came to Korea in January during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, an increase of more than 30% compared to the previous year.

In April last year, Korean and Chinese tourism industry practitioners held business consultations at the K-Tourism Roadshow held in Shenyang, China. [Photo by Korea Tourism Organization]

In line with this trend, the Korea Tourism Organization emphasized that it will vigorously carry out marketing targeting the Chinese market in the first half of this year to revitalize the inbound tourism market.

The roadshow will be attended by about 300 Korean and Chinese travel industry officials, including domestic local government officials and major Chinese travel agencies handling Korean inbound products, participating in business consultation trade fairs. Through the roadshow, the Korea Tourism Organization plans to introduce new tourism content based on experiences and lifestyles such as beauty, gourmet food, pet-friendly travel, and performances, and collaborate with participating local governments to promote the charm of regional small and medium-sized cities.

Additionally, as the Chinese travel consumption market is rapidly shifting from 'group' to 'individual' travel, the organization announced plans to conduct seasonal and themed campaigns to attract individual tourists. In line with the spring flower blooming season, they will operate a 'Korea Spring Flower Theme Pavilion' in partnership with Tongcheng, a leading Chinese online travel agency (OTA), providing a one-stop service from searching for spring flower travel information to booking travel products. They also emphasized promoting domestic spring flower travel destinations using famous influencers and setting up pop-up stores with a spring flower theme to imprint Korea’s charm as a spring travel destination. They added that they plan to conduct airline ticket discount promotions in cooperation with major airlines flying to Korea, timed for the spring flower season.

The Korea Tourism Organization also announced plans to launch various projects to revitalize regional tourism, including a campaign in April targeting Chinese women in their 20s to 50s, who make up a large proportion of inbound tourists, to promote the charm of small and medium-sized cities in Korea.

Kim Jong-hoon, Director of International Marketing at the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "To expand the Chinese market, we will focus on holding roadshows in the first half of the year to strengthen the foundation for developing new Korean inbound products between the Korean and Chinese industries, and expand cooperation with leading local platforms in China to target individual travelers intensively. In particular, we will actively discover and promote Korea’s diverse and new attractions in collaboration with local regions."