Building Korean Brand of Tourism

The Visit Korea Year (VKY) 2010-2012 kicked off with the laying of welcome mats bearing various indigenous historical and cultural events

By Director General Cho Hyun-jae
The Tourism Industry Bureau
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Minister Yu In-chon opened the Visit Korea Year 2010-2012 by welcoming the first group of foreign tourists to visit Korea on Jan. 1 aboard a plane arriving at Incheon International Airport.
The objectives of the tourism promotion program include attracting 10 million foreign tourists to Korea annually for tourism revenues of $13 billion per year, thereby boosting Korea’s tourism competitive power to 20th in the world by 2012.
Expectations for the tourism program run high because it took two years to prepare the program and it is built around a number of big international events taking place in the country including the 2010 Seoul Design Capital, the 2011 Daegu IAAF World Championships in Athletics and the 2012 Yeosu Expo, all to be led by the civilian sector, ensuring dynamic operation and an effective partnership in the promotion mechanism for the VKY.
The G-20 Summit, scheduled to be held in Seoul in November, is an occasion to decide the direction of the world economy, boosting Korea’s international prestige as the chair nation and also making Korea an attractive tourist destination with so many foreign visitors during the meeting, including media people, drawing huge attention around the world.
Then, what makes Korea attractive to foreign tourists? First of all, it is a nation with a long history and many diverse cultural and spiritual assets, so much so that noted Oriental philosopher William E. Griffith called Korea a “nation of morning calm and a candle of the East.”
Korea began building its economy in the early ’60s, and in 50 years pulled off the “Miracle of the Han River,” standing upright in the center of the world economy.
Tourism has two sides ― one for the industrial fusion of culture, arts, history, sport and industry, and the other for the exchange of communication between Koreans and foreigners. The hope is that foreign tourists will physically feel various shapes and things native to Korea and communicate with Korean people during the VKY period. The goal is for Korea to be a stronger country in tourism and culture following the successful VKY programs, as it is designed to succeed and is not just words with visible outcomes.
In order to make the tourism program a great success during 2010-2012, the plan is to have foreign tourists see and taste many traditional cultural events including regional festivals, food fairs and others that make up the 10 best tourism contents for Korea to make Korean tourism a tourism brand well known throughout the world.
The VKY plan includes tours of four large ancient palaces, the cream of Korean royal culture, traditional cultural sites such as the ancient royal tombs and the sanctuary for storing the names of Joseon Dynasty kings, and others on the list of the world cultural heritage of UNESCO. Along with those are commodities related to the Korean entertainment industry such as films, dances and pop groups that are popular in Asian countries. Foreign tourists will also be invited to watch some of the Korean wave-type entertainments directly such as films and pop concerts.
Also included in the program are incentives for foreign tourists under such programs as “One More Night” and “Korea Grand Sale” where they can buy inexpensive mementos for their tour of Korea. The VKY Committee will also conduct a nationwide “smile” campaign to make foreign tourists feel welcome in Korea, getting kind images of Koreans wherever they go.
St. Augustus, a famous theologian in Rome, said, “The world is a book and those who don’t travel, can only read a page of the book.” The page on Korea has not yet been turned as there are many more interesting stories yet to be written. The hope of the VKY committee is that foreign tourists will read that page and become immersed in the contents of the page before turning to the next page. nw