Ambassadors, Their Families Enjoy Mesmer-izing Tour
- Kangwon Land hosts tour to globalize Gangwon tourism

Five counties and cities in the southern Gangwon Province held a meeting called, "Forum for Globalization of Gangwon Tourism," from Nov.5-7 at the Grand Conference Hall of the Kangwon Land, under the support of the Gangwon Province, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy and the Korea National Tourism Organization.
The purpose of the event took aim at letting diplomats assigned to Seoul and key leaders related to tourism know about "2004 Year of Gangwon Tourism," and globalize the level of Gangwon Tourism through an intensive tourism campaign for attracting both foreign and domestic tourists to Kangwon Land so that the tourist destination would be developed as a global integrated tourism resort, preparing a base for Korea to become a tourism hub in northeast Asia.
Invited to the event included foreign ambassadors assigned to Seoul and their family members and heads of organizations related to tourism and five cities and counties in southern Gangwon Province, which hosted the event. They were informed of Kang Land's push to globalize its tourism and the direction of its tourism campaign strategies being put together and its problems and remedial plans.
Kangwon Land also is attempting to change its tourism campaign plans to foreign-tourism oriented one from overwhelmingly domestic-oriented one centered around its theme park to be developed as a global integrated tourism resort, part of its second stage resort development project.
The familiarization tour this time included: on the first day a trip to the Woljong Buddhist temple, an outstanding tourist destination in Gangwon Province, and tour its Seongbo Museum and return to Kangwon Land for dinner and party: on the second day travel to Jeongam Buddhist temple located in Gohan town and Tangun Holy Palace and play a round of golf at Kangwon Land golf course located some 1,150 meters from the sea level in the afternoon. They also watched a performance of a traditional folk art troupe at dinner followed by discussions on strategies to develop tourism in Gangwon Province: on the third day, they were invited to climb Mt.Mindung and play golf before returning to Seoul on a tourist coach provided by the Korean National Railroad in the afternoon.
Kangwon Land is hoping that invited guests including foreign ambassadors and their families would become tourism ambassadors to Kangwon Land and help let the world know about its tourism assets including scenic locations surrounding the location so that it would grow to become a world-renowned resort place.
The ambassadors and their families representing 35 foreign countries were a privy to a crane dance at an auditorium at Woljong Buddhist temple performed by monk Baekseong. This particular dance number is yet to be introduced to the public in Korea, although it has been designated as an intangible cultural asset already. It has been revived not long ago by the monk.
Before watching the dance performance, they toured the temple and marveled at the nine-story stone tower, designated as national treasure No.48. Do Young-shim, president of the Korea Tourism Cultural Policy Institute, explained the history surrounding the famous stone artifact so that the foreign guests would have more complete understanding about the Buddhist temple located deep in the mountain in Gangwon Province.
The diplomats and their families spent a night at Kangwon Land and traveled to Jongseon County to tour another Buddhist temple Jeongam and other historic artifacts in the region. They listened the Tangun myth which includes bears and tigers at Tangun Palace. They burned incenses at the sacred altar at the palace.
Many of them showed a deep interest in folk culture of the region. Some wives of the ambassadors on tour threw hundred won coins at a little statue of Buddha for good luck as they heard local residents did that.
An ambassador from Honduras said he was sorry that Jeongson failed to win the right to host the winter Olympics last year. Gangwon Province, he said, should be all right if it keeps its natural beauty and cultural artifacts well preserved as they are. They offered various ideas on tourism that can be used by tourism authorities in the country including the Korean government.
Korea's land is a heaven for mountains, full of religious spirit due to many Buddhist temples in those mountains, said one of the diplomats on tour. But, he advised, they need a good tour guide book.
Another diplomat said he had a valuable experience during the tour, saying that he was very happy to have been invited to the tour. He said he was very impressed with the Tangun myth and Korea's folk culture, which is still such a powerful force in Korean society. Koreans should be more proud of their culture and show off its diversity. They should also have more hotels and recreational facilities to make tourism flourish in the area, the Polish ambassador said.
This tour is totally different from the temple tour I had before, an Austrian diplomat said, adding that they should be able to come up with more tour programs that would show off Korea's cultural assets including culture and tradition.
Some of the diplomats on tour played golf at a new golf course ready to open next year at Kangwon Land. They said they could read the intense desire of Gangwon Province people to make Kangwon Land an integrated resort, up from being just a casino.
The tour for diplomats was more than just a tour; it was tourism diplomacy staged by Kangwon Land, which is why Gangwon provincial governor Kim Jin-seon and a number of lawmaker from the region joined the tour. They included Reps. Lee Kwang-jae, Cho Il-hyun, Koh Jin-hwa, Kim Jong-ryul, Noh Young-min, Oh Je-sei, and Lee Eun-young, all members of the National Assembly Culture-Tourism Committee. nw