Admission to all of the attractions would cost 152,000 won ($135) if tickets were purchased separately, and so using a Discovery Seoul Pass offers savings of more than 70 percent on ticket prices. (image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 28 (Korea Bizwire) – The Discovery Seoul Pass, which was designed for foreign visitors who travel around major attractions in Seoul, will be available for purchase starting July 29 as part of a pilot project.
For 39,900 won ($35), anyone with a Discovery Seoul Pass will receive free admission to 16 major tourist attractions in Seoul, with the pass remaining active for 24 hours from the moment the first attraction is accessed.
The 16 tourist attractions include Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, Deoksugung Palace, Changgyeonggung Palace, Jongmyo, Seodaemun Prison History Hall, Samsung Leeum Museum, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Museum Kimchikan, N Seoul Tower Observatory, MBC World, K-Live Dongdaemun, Trick Eye Museum, Grevin Museum Seoul, Alive Museum, and Figure Museum W.
Admission to all of the attractions would cost 152,000 won ($135) if tickets were purchased separately, and so using a Discovery Seoul Pass offers savings of more than 70 percent on ticket prices. Foreigners with a Discovery Seoul Pass can also get 10 to 20 percent discounts on Seoul City Tour Buses.
“We analyzed data from Trip Advisor and selected the 16 most popular tourist attractions for foreigners. As of 2014, 75 percent of foreign visitors were individual tourists who typically do not benefit from the ticket discounts that group tourists get, so we came up with the idea for the Discovery Seoul Pass,” said a Seoul city official.
A smartphone application for the Discovery Seoul Pass is already available on the Google Play Store, and will be available on Apple’s App Store next month. The mobile app will have information on 16 tourist attractions, and will show which attractions have been visited, as well as the time remaining on the pass. The mobile app will be available in English, simplified and traditional Chinese, and Japanese.
The pass can be purchased at KEB Hana Bank branches at Incheon International Airport, CU Convenience Stores, the Tourist Information Center in Myeongdong, and City Tour Bus ticket booths.
The Discovery Seoul Pass can also be used as a T-money card, a rechargeable transit smart card.
The pilot project will last for a month until the end of August, and the city government may include more attractions in the future, or issue two or three-day passes if the 24-hour pass proves to be popular among foreign visitors.
By Nonnie Kim (nkim@koreabizwire.com)
