SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign visitors to South Korea will soon have access to tourist information in multiple languages, 24 hours a day, at major tourist destinations, starting in Seoul. The government has revealed the launch of a 24-hour multilingual automated “smart help desk,” catering to the convenience of international visitors. The first [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean outbound tourists are now able to obtain their international driver’s licenses at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, police said Monday. The National Police Agency opened an international driver’s license issuance desk at the departure gate of the airport’s First Terminal on the third floor on the [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – With an estimated 26,000 workers and volunteers involved in the Olympics and 390,000 guests visiting from all over the world, the lower half of the Korean peninsula has its hands full in preparing for this coming winter. A joint statement released by Gangwon Province and the Ministry of SMEs [...]
SEJONG, Feb. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – Commission fees given by duty-free shops to travel agencies increased sharply to reach nearly 1 trillion won (US$872.4 million) last year on heated competition to attract more foreign travelers, customs data showed Thursday. Twenty-two local duty-free operators paid a combined 967.2 billion won to tourist agencies and guides in [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Korea Bizwire) – Foreign tourists arrivals in South Korea are expected to surpass a record high of 17 million people this year on the back of a sharp increase in Chinese tourists, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday. The number of foreign tourists to South Korea fell 6.8 percent [...]
SEOUL, March 8 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea will revoke the licenses of tour operators that lure Chinese travelers with cheap, low-quality package tours to address growing complaints about substandard programs, the tourism ministry said Tuesday. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism unveiled a series of measures to tighten regulations on tour agencies specialized in [...]
SEJONG, Nov. 30 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea will offer on-spot tax refunds to foreign tourists who buy products at local duty-free shops starting Jan. 1, the government said Sunday. The Finance Ministry said it is moving to revise existing exemption guidelines governing foreign tourists so they need not pay value-added and excise taxes when they shop in the country. Under the proposed changes, an item costing less than 200,000 won (US$173) [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Korea Bizwire) - South Korea’s tour agents are forecast to post better earnings this year as a sharp rise in outbound travelers offset a fall in the number of foreign visitors in the wake of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in the country, according to market watchers Friday. The MERS outbreak [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 24 (Korea Bizwire) -Taxies and call-vans that rip off foreign tourists or issue fake receipts are increasingly being caught. After police cracked down on the illegal acts of taxies and call-vans, 139 cases were reported and 19 drivers were arrested and face criminal charges. The others will face administrative penalties from local governments. [...]