SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – The keyword for the Korea Tourism Organization’s 2017 business plan is “diversification.” In an official announcement Monday, the KTO said it will be targeting tourists from Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas to stray away from its high dependency on Chinese tourists, while offering more tourism content outside of [...]
SEOUL, April 12 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea launched a tour program that offers a hands-on experience of Korean traditional culture tailored for Chinese travelers visiting Seoul, the state-run Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said Tuesday. The travel package includes a pedicab ride to the traditional village, local market tour and a Korean cooking class as well [...]
SEOUL, April 11 (Korea Bizwire) - South Korea opened a Korean food information center to showcase Korean cuisine and food culture and promote culinary tourism among foreign travelers, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday. The “K-Style Hub” opened in the previous headquarters of the state-run Korea Tourism Organization in downtown Seoul. The KTO relocated to Wonju, [...]
SEOUL, April 7 (Korea Bizwire) – A South Korean state-run tourism promotion agency is pushing to introduce a “Muslim-friendly certificate” for local restaurants where visitors could be served well-prepared halal food, industry sources said Thursday. According to the sources, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) plans to launch the Muslim-friendly certificate system around August, which will be [...]
SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea is ramping up support for the travel industry by enhancing its tourism infrastructure and tightening regulations on low-quality package programs to help shore up its slowing economy, officials and experts said Monday. Helped by the popularity of Korean pop culture, the tourism industry has emerged as a prospective [...]
SEOUL, March 23 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. will provide foreign visitors here with an opportunity to experience its services free of charge, company officials said Wednesday. In the “Enjoy Mobile Korea” program, 250 foreigners arriving in South Korea will be able to use unlimited voice calling services and up [...]
SEOUL, March 22 (Korea Bizwire) – For foreigners visiting South Korea, museums and ancient palace tours are not the most intriguing cultural experiences. Street food was top on their travel lists, a survey showed Tuesday.’ According to the online poll by the state-run Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) on 4,369 foreigners, 54.2 percent said they want to [...]
SEOUL, March 22 (Korea Bizwire) - South Korean travelers are showing interest in a remote part of Greece, while cities here that are home to former mines and military facilities are undertaking major uplifts to attract Chinese tourists, thanks to a TV drama that has been a stellar success. Local travel agencies said Tuesday they have [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — A video on the tourism in South Korea featuring hallyu star Lee Min-ho has broken 20 million views on YouTube in two months since its release, his agency said Wednesday. The advertisement titled “Korea, let your story begin” drew 22.2 million views as of Tuesday after being released in [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of Chinese people visiting South Korea is returning to levels seen before the MERS outbreak in May, data showed Thursday. About 303,000 Chinese people traveled to South Korea in the first 14 days of this month, up 4.8 percent from the same period last year, according to the [...]