Seoul Metropolitan Government is set to stage a specially arranged tour program which features a “mission” like tour event for six-dedicated tour destinations in the city. (image: sunxez/flickr)
SEOUL, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) – Storytelling is so uniquely powerful way to engage your target audience and bring your subject to life in memorable ways. And the city of Seoul is planning to borrow the concept of storytelling in its marketing tool to make the capital of South Korea much more attractive and entertaining travel destination — for foreign travelers.
In its attempt to provide expatriate residents and foreign travelers with compelling reason and merit to visit Seoul again in the near future, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is set to stage a specially arranged tour program which features a “mission” like tour event for six-dedicated tour destinations in the city.
The participants can join the “mission trips” to the chosen tour places which hold their unique historical story with the help of foreign language manual (Chinese, English and Japanese). What it calls “The Seoul Storytelling Mission Tour” events, which will be staged 30 times in total, will begin on June 27 to October.
To this end, the city government has chosen six courses which include Hanseong Baekje ruins, Hangul(Hangeul) Gaon-gil nearby Gwanghwamun, Seoul Hanyang Doseong (the Seoul City Wall), two courses along the Han River (Banpo and Yoido Park) and Dongdaemun, where large shopping complexes and traditional places coexist.
The city government announced that the Seoul Storytelling Tour has been created to take strategic approach when it comes to promoting enriched facts of Seoul’s history and culture at the level of foreigners’ eyes — and giving foreigners firsthand experience of Korean culture using the mission game concept. The city expects more than 3,000 foreign tourists to join the program.
The Hangul Gaon-gil walking tour course begins at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and passes through the Salvation Army Office Building, the Korean Language Society, the site of Ju Si-gyeong’s residence who is a famous Hangul scholar and independence activist during Japanese colonial period in Korea — all are intended to give the participants another insight of what have made Korea as it is now.
The course aims to provide historical information on King Sejong, inventor of Hangeul (Hangul) or Korean alphabet, Korean language scholar Ju and Doctor Hulbert who once famously claimed that Hangeul is the most scientific and ideal alphabet system on the planet, and dedicated himself to raising awareness on Hangeul around the world.
The Dongdaemun course begins at Dongdaemun Design Plaza and features a walking program passing through Dongdaemun History and Culture Park, Dongdaemun, Pyeonghwa Market to fashion town. While walking through the designated places, intriguing story surrounding Dongdaemun — rich in the traditional facts and its contemporary elements including its showy fashion market — will be shared.
The Seoul City Wall course is a two-hour walk course starting from Marronnier Park at Daehangno (Daehak-ro) — ideal place for relaxation and leisurely walks — goes to Naksan Park via Ewha Mural Village. The participants can along the way enjoy the wall paintings in the village — colorful, subtle and creative murals that you can take a look as you stroll up and down — and be knowledgeable on revealing stories related to the city wall on which some 70 mural artists jointly worked to this place make exotic tour destination in the city.
The Han river courses are divided into two courses — Banpo and Yoido parks — and the travelers can share hidden stories behind the river. The Banpo course provides Seorae islet tour and rainbow fountain show and Yoido course introduces film and drama shooting sites.
The Baekje Dynasty ruins course starts from the World Peace Gate in the Olympic Park, a colorful structure that was built as a sign of peace and harmony for the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics and walks through Gommal Bridge, Mongchontoseong fortress and to the Seoul Baekje Museum. The participants can have a chance to enjoy traditional games of the Baekje Dynasty.
“The Seoul Storytelling Tour is an awesome way to enjoy the city of Seoul for foreigners who will have as much fun as they get more immersed in the “rich story” of Seoul. We expect this unique events help give refreshing perspective on Seoul and serve as another supportive tool to make Seoul more attractive enough to visit time and again,” said an official at Seoul’s Tourism Policy Bureau.
The tour will be conducted for free and the entry for the program is available at Seoul Story site (http://www.seoulstory.org/article/notice/184?pageindex=1).
Written by M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
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