Second Seoul Tourism Awards 2009

Seoul City hosts international meeting to hand out 17 awards to individuals and organizations for achievements in tourism

Seoul City hosted the 2nd annual Seoul Tourism Awards 2009 on June 4, an awards event to celebrate the best of city tourism promotion in Seoul and cities around the Asia-Pacific region. A total of 17 awards were presented to the winners, both individuals and organizations that have shown the highest contribution to city tourism over the last year.
The winners have been hailed as the industry's best by the professionals and citizens in Seoul as well as around the Asia-Pacific region. Chairman Park Sam-koo of the Visit Korea Year 2010 was among the dignitaries present the annual tourism event.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, in his message, said the year 2009 will mark a new start for Seoul to be positioned as a creative city of culture. "Culture is our new source that generates high added value and enhances urban competitiveness. As a result, Seoul will be able to attract more foreign investment and international visitors,"he said.
He said culture is a workable solution to overcome the growth of unemployment in Seoul, especially because the manufacturing industry accounts for a meager 13 percent whereas the service sector takes up 87 percent of the city's economy.
The mayor went on to say that this has been a busy year for Seoul as the city prepares to be the host city for Visit Korea Year 2010. Seoul is fast at work enhancing creativity throughout the city.
The Seoul Tourism Award 2009 is a part of the city's bid to realize such a vision. The Award will feature a total of 17 prizes in eight categories with tourism professionals around the Asia-Pacific region vying for the prizes.
"The Seoul Tourism Award 2009 aims to further develop the tourism industry as well as attract more visitors to Seoul. I am certain that the event will make a significant contribution to making this event a major annual festival in the world," Mayor Oh said.
The Grand Prix went to Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of Macao Special Administrative Region. The citation said he has been the key figure for transforming Macao into the world's top city of leisure, entertainment and "MICE"destination in the Asian region. The citation went on to say that he made a contribution to the diversification of Macao's tourism industry by achieving a UNESCO World Heritage award with some of the world's newest, largest and most spectacular entertainment complexes for both leisure and business travelers.
The Award for Best Overall Contributor to Seoul Tourism was given to Yoon Seok-ho, director of Yoon's Color. Yoon is known for his TV drama series for four seasons, including "Winter Sonata", which ignited the Korean Wave around Asia, especially Japan, "Spring Waltz,""Summer Scent"and "Autumn in My Heart."These TV dramas widely promoted Seoul as a major tourism destination to the world. As a result, the "Four Seasons House"was built as a Korean drama exhibition hall, to display production details, photos and props from the four seasons dramas, attracting around 20,000 foreign visitors annually.
The Award for Best Korean Star Promoting Seoul Tourism went to actor Ryu Si-won, who was credited with expanding Seoul's reputation as a world tourism destination as a promotional ambassador of Korean tourism and culture for three consecutive years since 2006. He was the recipient of the Presidential Citation in 2008 for his contributions to Korea Tourism through various activities, such as acting, music recording and concerts and fan meetings in Asia, particularly in Japan. He has attracted around 12,000 foreign tourists annually, the citation said.
The Award for Best Star Promoting Seoul Tourism was awarded to Kazuyuki Toyoda, an actress in Japan, appointed as the honorary Ambassador of Korean Tourism in 2009. She has widely promoted Korean cosmetics on TV programs in Japan, which enhanced the brand image of domestic cosmetics and promoted Korea as a destination for beauty tourism adding to tourism imports and economic effects.
Singapore was named as the Best Sightseeing City in the Asia-Pacific region. The city attracted some 10.3 million tourists last year, up 5.4 percent from 2007. The Award for Best City Tourism Promotion Campaign in the Asia-Pacific region was presented to NYC & Co. of the United States, for its contribution to raising the pride of New Yorkers, while attracting foreign tourists with the ongoing campaign, "This is New York."Through an active global tourism campaign, New York City attracted a record 47 million tourists and $30 billion in total spending in 2008.
Despite the economic downturn, New York attracted an additional one million international visitors bringing the total to 9.8 million, which is an increase of 11.9 percent from the previous year.
On June 4, the Seoul Tourism Forum 2009 took place at the Shilla Hotel with the attendance of various tourism experts from overseas including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia to discuss strategies and future vision to upgrade Seoul as an international tourism city.
The meeting got underway with Mayor Oh'S opening remarks. British Amb. to Seoul Martin Youden made a congratulatory speech, followed by a keynote speech by Eou Youn-dae, chairman of the National Brand Committee. nw

Award winners at Seoul Tourism Awards 2009 are lined up after winning the awards.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon delivers his speech at 2nd Seoul Tourism Awards 2009 on June 4.