7th Gyeonggi International Travel Mart to be held at KINTEX on Nov. 12-15

[by] Lee Kyung-min (Korea IT Times)

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

The 7th Gyeonggi International Travel Mart (GITM2009) will be held at KINTEX in Gyeonggi Province on Nov. 12-13.

It is this international fair that introduced a new system which enables visitors to purchase all travel-related commodities on the spot, a spokesman of Gyeonggi Tourism Organization said. For the first time in Korea, a fair for employment of workers in the domestic tourism industry will be held simultaneously along with the Travel Mart. The Gyeonggi International Travel Mart has grown at a rapid pace annually, becoming a global exhibition, the spokesman said.

For instance, the 6th Gyeonggi International Travel Mart was held on a space of 21,384 square meters of KINTEX and attracted a total of 135,961 visitors. A total of 302 travel-related institutions from 30 countries participated in the 6th travel mart, operating 944 tourism booths. From the viewpoint of economic effects, the combined expenditure of the visitors came to W3.9 billion (US$3.31 million) and the combined spending by participating institutions amounted to W7.3 billion (US$6.19 million), bringing the total expenditure to W11.2 billion (US$9.50 million).

Economic Effects

According to analysis of effects of the 6th Gyeonggi International Travel Mart, which was carried out by the Tourism Research Center of Hanyang University, production inducement effect came to W15.8 billion (US$13.40 million) and a total of 112 people got a job through the fair.

Effect on value added inducement amounted to W6.7 billion (US$5.68 million) and that on income inducement amounted to W2.4 billion (US$2.04 million). The 6th Travel Mart also generated W2.7 billion (US$2.29 million) in import inducement effect and W500 million (US$424,000) in revenue of net indirect tax.

Gyeonggi Tourism Organization has been actively pushing for qualitative growth of the Gyeonggi International Travel Mart through introduction of various content and an on-the-spot system for purchase of travel-related goods.

“We will introduce an upgraded operation system to this travel mart to help visitors buy tailor-made travel products on the spot after comparing quality and services of a variety of goods,” said the spokesman.

Almost all travel-related agencies and institutions, including Seoul-based tourism offices of major countries, domestic travel agencies, foreign hotels, domestic and foreign airline companies, as well as cruise enterprises, will introduce various travel products to visitors directly, he said.

“The 7th Gyeonggi International Travel Mart will be operated as a comprehensive international fair where Korean and foreign visitors can engage in all sorts of activities for planning, consultation and purchase of travel-related goods at a discounted price,” said the spokesman.

In line with this, Gyeonggi Tourism Organization concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ready Get Set Go Company (RGSC) of Singapore, an institution specialized in B2C, on Sept. 4. They jointly organized the “Let’s go! Travel show 2009” event.

Global Lunch Festival

The organization is also planning to host “global lunch festival” to introduce lunch menus of some 20 countries to visitors.

Noting that the world lunch festival gained favorable responses from visitors over the past two years, the spokesman said that Gyeonggi Tourism Organization is moving to develop the food festival further from the viewpoint of the tourism industry.

Along with this, it will operate a variety of publicity halls featuring museums and botanical gardens in Gyeongggi Province. It will also organize various exhibitions featuring leisure airplanes, camping cars, boats and yachts in preparation for an upcoming era of leisure tourism of western coast.

“Gyeonggi Tourism Organization will play the role of locomotive to activate regional economy and tourism industry by organizing a fair for employment in the tourism industry,” said the spokesman.

Related to this, the organization will receive applications from tourism circles, including hotels and travel agencies, and hold employment-related consultations on the spot, he said.

Gyeonggi International Travel Mart 2007, 2008

The Gyeonggi International Travel Mart (GITM) 2008 opened on Nov. 13 in 2008 at the Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX) in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. During the four-day event, Korea and some 30 other countries promoted their domestic attractions and specialty products. Also, expert travelers and writers gave lectures on tourism. GITM’s World Street Food Festival introduced various foods from different countries around the world, even giving participants the chance to taste a few

Meanwhile, the Gyeonggi International Travel Mart 2007 was held at KINTEX in Goyang on Nov. 15-18, 2007. A total of 207 organizations and 570 businesses from 26 nations participated in the event.

In particular, the 2007 travel mart provided some unique pleasures for visitors by offering a wide variety of interesting events, including Korea’s first noodle festival, a Korean wave-wood promotion event, and a UCC festival related to culture and tourism. In the World Noodle Festival, which was participated in by seven nations including Italy, China, Japan, and Vietnam, renowned noodle chefs held live cooking demonstrations and served dishes to the public. Visitors to the mart could gain experiences and bought products and enjoyed a wide range of special events, including craftwork lessons.

With a broad range of additional events, including the Korea-China Pan-Pacific Tourism Forum, B2B business consulting for overseas buyers, a press conference with overseas tourism offices, and presentations made by local governments for tourism agencies, the Gyeonggi International Travel Mart 2007 was one of the biggest events in the Korean travel industry.

Visitors also could enjoy the folk cultures of various nations through the excellent performances of the world-class Chinese acrobatic team, Taepyeongmu of Anseong, the Pyeongtaek Wooddari peasant band, the Gyeonggi-province Korean classical music band, the Mongolian folk art team, the Philippine folk art team, and the Malaysian folk art team.

http://www.koreaittimes.com/story/5532/spot-purchases-7th-travel-mart