Visit Incheon Year 2009

Incheon Tourism Organization goes all out to attract tourists to Incheon from both at home and abroad

The Incheon Tourism Organization (ITO) is as busy as ever since its launch three years ago with the designation of Visit Incheon Year 2009 to attract tourists to the port city.
ITO President Choi Jae-kun said the organization has been occupied with work to secure tourist facilities such as hotels in the city for a stable inflow of tourists and continuous vigor in tourism activities.
The ITO, he said, has also been working to get permissions to set up casinos and duty-free shops, as they are basic elements to attract foreign tourists in addition to what the city already has to offer, such as scenic islands and other natural wonders. Presently, the Seven Luck Casino has been very successful in its operations, providing joy to foreign tourists calling on Incheon.
The casino operation is a valuable business for the ITO as it can provide funds to supplement its budget. The ITO currently is at a closing stage of the construction of a Best Western luxury hotel and the low- to mid-priced hotel Songdo Metro, which will accommodate people visiting the world city festival which kicks off in August, the ITO CEO said.







































Choi said Incheon will have 10 luxury and inexpensive hotels when the two new hotels are completed in June. They will be needed for conventions and exhibitions to be held in Incheon now and in the future including the world city festival. He said hotels in France and Germany charge twice as much as hotels in Korea, but they have to cut the rates during the off-season, unlike Korean hotels, which don't have to cut rates even during the off-season as they have a steady number of tourists.
The ITO, working with Incheon City, dispatched a tourism promotion delegation to Shandung and Liaoning provinces in China on Nov. 24, 2008 to attract tourists from China in 2009, Incheon City's Visit Incheon Year, Choi said.
The ITO CEO said he will run the ITO with the primary focus of spurring domestic tourism as the steep fall in the value of the Korean currency will likely keep Koreans from travelling abroad and at the same time make Korea an attractive tourist destination for travelers in China and Japan, the country's closest neighbors.
Choi said the ITO will go all out to attract foreign tourists to Incheon this year, taking advantage of the Incheon World City Festival, Global Fair and Festival 2009 and other various colorful programs under the banner of Visit Incheon Year 2009.
The Visit Incheon Year 2009 committee launched promotional events in October last year and dispatched promotional teams to such cities as Chuncheon, Busan, Gwangju, Daejeon and Seoul, 10 cities altogether, to attract tourists to Incheon through its road show.
Choi said the Incheon World City Festival is the first such international event to be held in the world with the theme of "Lightening Tomorrow, the Story of Future Cities in 80 Days," ending on Oct. 25. The organizing committee has already launched preparations with a project to build an infrastructure in Songdo International City. By June, a small city will be completed with infrastructure and temporary buildings. The festival will kick off on Aug. 7, following a trial run in July, with 2009 kites with children's dreams, telling the story of futuristic cities of the world over the course of 80 days until the event comes to a close on Oct. 25.
The tourism promotion team drummed up Korean tourism in China to do its share toward achieving its target of 7 million inbound tourists in 2009. The team wants to lure Chinese tourists to stay in Incheon for as long as they can to experience Korean culture and tradition, taking advantage of the steep depreciation of the Korean won against major world currencies, especially the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen, which make Korean tourism very competitive. The ITO expects some 10,000 Chinese tourists from Shandung Province will visit Incheon this year under an MOU signed between the ITO and the Shandung Senior Citizens Committee, President Choi said.
The City of Incheon has programmed various festivals and other cultural events this year, which foreign tourists can take part in and enjoy.
The city kicked off the new year designated as the Visit Incheon Year by the government to attract 7 million inbound tourists this year by holding a Sunrise Celebration on Palmi Island off Incheon on Jan. 1 and held a ceremony on Mt. Mani, Gangwha Island, to declare the Visit Incheon Year vision on Jan. 16.
In May, the city plans to hold a variety of events to show the Incheon region's history including the Byung-in Western Incident, the arrival of the first Western vessels on the Korean Peninsula at Cheongseojin and various weekly events including concerts, animation film displays, dance, sports, and magicians' performances under the Mania Grand Festival, the Incheon Grand Flower Festival and the Incheon Grand Sale.
In June, scheduled events include the Angling Competition and a walk through Gangwha Island's barbed wire fences built to prevent North Korean guerrillas from landing on the coastal areas of the island by boat.
Scheduled in July are the Pentaport Rock Festival in which some 50 musical groups from both home and abroad are slated to participate, the realization of the transportation of the 80,000 Buddhist scriptures and the Performance of Traditional Dance by Scholars of the Joseon Dynasty, among others.
The list of the "12 jewels" tourist spots in and around Incheon includes Palmi Island, where tourists can watch the sunrise. The island opened to public on Jan. 1 for the first time since the Korean War when U.S. military units set up camps to guard against North Korean invasion. All military facilities have been removed from the island.
The island is known for its lighthouse, which is 106 years old, guiding ships in and out of the Incheon port. The island, some 15 km from the port of Incheon, has no residents. The island is known for its sandy beaches where Japanese tourists loved to come for swimming during the Japanese colonial days.
Other tourist spots on the list are Chinatown, Paeknyeong Island, Mt. Goryeo on Gangwha Island, Buddhist temples on Gangwha Island and Bupyeong, a center of traditional Korean folklore festivals, among others.
Incheon is also known for the Incheon Free Economic Zone, an emerging international business and finance center with features ranging from the nations longest bridge to the soon-to-be-built 151-story twin tower skyscraper, Incheon Tower, and Songdo Incheon Conventia. nw

President Choi Jae-kun of the Incheon Tourism Organization