Korea’s Tourism Organization is hoping to attract 30 million foreign tourists by 2027.
1. Attracting international tourists
The South Korean government unveiled measures, including easing travel-related restrictions, hoping to attract 30 million tourists by 2027, as borders around the world are reopening amid easing in Covid-19 policies.
The tourism organization intends to achieve the number through digital tourism platform services and Korean-content storytelling tour programs, featuring cities such as Gyeongju, Jeju City, Suwon, Busan, Chuncheon and, of course, the capital Seoul.
Korea’s tourism has suffered tremendously due to the pandemic and I view it as only half recovered at this point.
Kim Jang-sil, President of the Korea Tourism Organization
Given the pandemic, the most recent target figure of 20 million in 2020 wasn’t met by the authorities. “Korea’s tourism has suffered tremendously due to the pandemic and I view it as only half recovered at this point,” said Kim Jang-sil, President of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), during a press conference held at the Korea Press Center in Seoul. The government proposes to use big data analysis and targeted marketing to promote Korean tourism both on and offline to attract international tourists to the country.
2. Visit Korea campaign
The “Visit Korea Year 2023-24” campaign will be launched next year and Jang-sil stressed the importance of discovering and supporting regional content and programs for the success of the campaign. “A single small piece of content can go a long way. I remember learning a German folk song called ‘Die Lorelei’ in middle school, and the song’s beautiful lyrics stayed in my head and eventually made me travel to Germany to see the village,” Jang-sil recalled.
Jang-sil also suggested developing more cultural content-driven tourism spots, such as travellers walking through a road of Korean myths and folktales, or following traces of Korean pop music history. To this end, the KTO’s goal is to support 1,200 technology convergence tourism ventures and foster three tourism-related unicorns next year.
3. Metaverse experience
Big data will play a key role to attract foreign tourists as the government is planning to create a big data-based customized travel planner on its online platform for individual and group tourists. The idea is to offer personalized travel recommendations taking into account the user’s interests and budget. Meanwhile, the KTO announced plans to join hands with metaverse platform Zepeto in designing “Korea Travel Village World” on eight different travel themes. The KTO hopes the metaverse space will encourage young people to take a plane and travel to Korea.
