“Beautiful!” “Seugoi!” “Hen hao!”
Createdd 2012-01-17 Hit 368
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“Beautiful!” “Seugoi!” “Hen hao!”
Foreigners Fall in Love with the Charm of Gyeonggi Tourism
(Published February 17, 2010)
Piapong (20) from Thailand graduated from high school in 2010 and entered university. It was his dream to visit Korea.
Korea is viewed favorably in Thailand due to the Korean Wave, but that’s not the only reason he wanted to visit. He’s very interested in Buddhist culture and wanted to experience Korean Buddhist culture, which is markedly different from that of Thailand.
He was able to experience Korean temple food and Buddhist culture through the temple stay program of Yongjusa Temple in Hwaseong City. A Buddhist culture that is very different from Thailand’s Buddhist culture was a new attraction for him.
Imelda, who attends college in the Philippines, became a fan of Korea while watching Korean dramas on TV.
Her peers also came to admire Korea after experiencing Korean culture through films and dramas.
She decided to experience making kimchi, the representative food of Korea, with her peers so as to directly experience Korean culture. When she came to Korea, the sight of strawberries tickled her as well, as they are not found in the Philippines.
Making kimchiand picking strawberries were uniquely charming experiences for her.
Foreigners are rushing to visit many places in Korea these days, including Gyeonggi Province. In the past, they only chased after the images that appeared in Korean Wave TV dramas. But it’s good to hear that foreigners now wish to experience the lifestyle of Koreans more directly.
In addition, with its cultural heritage, global industrial facilities, North-South tension, Dae Jang Geum Theme Park, and highly convenient transportation infrastructure, Gyeonggi Province is becoming ‘a Mecca of foreign tourism.’
Furthermore, the unique position of Gyeonggi Province, which is only surrounds Incheon International Airport, offers diverse tourism resources including traditional cultural tourism, industrial tourism, and edu-tours ideal for a short travel schedule.
‘Popular’ experience tourism such as temple stays and kimchi making
– Swedish tourists enjoying making kimchi at a food company in Suwon.
Based on the exceptional infrastructure of Gyeonggi Province, the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization declared 2012 to be the first year of its campaign to attract foreign tourists and launched its promotional drive.
The first strategy of the organization is to revitalize tourism by using the many cultural heritage assets and accommodation facilities in the province.
In reality, tourism that introduces traditional Korean culture and everyday aspects of daily Korean life to foreign visitors accounts for the most popular attractions.
The representative experience tourism products of Gyeonggi Province commoditize cultural, life, and ecological experiences including pottery making, kimchi making, folk arts and crafts making, Taekwondo, temple stay, a traditional Korean house experience, fruit picking, and a mud flat experience. The popularity of these products grows every year.
Adventure and unique experience products are extremely popular as well. For those seeking adventure, rafting, hang gliding, trekking and shooting have been commercialized. Among those seeking a unique experience, health and beauty programs, medical tourism, a marine boot camp and barracks program are all becoming popular products.
Products that allow tourists to experience and learn through physical participation are now becoming popular.
Foreign business team leader Gang Cheol-su of the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization said, “Compared to simply viewing and understanding, directly experiencing culture through these products is a more memorable and satisfactory experience.” He added, “Modern tourism is moving on to programs focused on the quality of experience.”
Korea’s unique cultural heritage ‘truly amazing for foreigners’
– Gyeonggi Province is filled with national treasures that encapsulate Korea’s splendid cultural heritage.
(Photos) Suwon Hwaseong Fortress (above) and Namhansanseong Fortress (below).
Gyeonggi Province boasts many historic cultural heritage assets. Gyeonggi Province itself is one big tourism site and history museum for Japanese visitors.
In particular, the Japanese are very interested in the historic cultural heritage of Korea. For Japanese visitors, the sites to experience tradition and history of Korea are tourism sites. Their favorite sites include the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, which are UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites. Among them, well-preserved tombs including the Royal Tomb of King Sejong (Yeongneung Royal Tomb), the Royal Tombs of King Jeongjo (Geolleung Royal Tomb), and the Donggureung Royal Tomb (King Taejo), as well as the Goguryeo blacksmith’s village near the Donggureung Royal Tomb, are the most popular attractions.
Also, numerous global IT companies are based in the province. The harmony between past and present, tradition and advanced science, presents a comprehensive view of Korea to foreign visitors to Gyeonggi Province.
Team leader Gang Cheol-su said, “Gyeonggi Province was the center of politics, economy, society, and culture during the Baekje, Goryeo, and Joseon dynasties. Since the province possesses glorious cultural heritage items such as Suwon Hwaseong Fortress and the Joseon Royal Tombs, which are registered as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites, many Japanese tourists visit Gyeonggi Province.”
In 2011, approximately 7.8 million foreign tourists visited Korea, 35% of whom paid a visit to Gyeonggi Province.
Statistics for 2008 show that foreigners who came to Gyeonggi Province visited the Korean Folk Village (13.6%), Everland Resort (9.8%), the inter-Korean border/Panmunjeom (Joint Security Area) (7.7%), Suwon Hwaseong Fortress (7.4%), Dae Jang Geum Theme Park (4.9%), Seoul Land (3.1%), and elsewhere.
As such, the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization has sought to further revitalize traditional tourism sites and moved on to discover new tourism products in collaboration with domestic and foreign organizations. The organization began to target foreign tourists through the development of tourism products and proactive marketing campaigns.
During the ‘Visit Korea Year’ (2010 to 2012), the organization plans to carry out more strategic marketing activities in a bid to attract three million foreign tourists to Gyeonggi Province.
Foreign group tourists, we love Gyeonggi Province!
– Chinese class trip group visited Gyeonggi Province through Pyeongtaek Port and enjoyed a group photo session.
The efforts of Gyeonggi Province to attract more tourists have proved fruitful. On January 1st, a Chinese class trip group entered Korea through Pyeongtaek Port. Comprised of 2,200 people divided into eight groups, the group will visit Gyeonggi Province.
Some 15,000 secured foreign tourists have been registered so far, including 700 in ‘Super Ski,’ a Southeast Asia tourist group visiting Korea for a two-night, three-day tour, 300 for the ‘Korea-China Youth Culture Sharing Festival’ in February (co-hosted with the Gyeonggi Province Youth Training Institute), and 2,000 from the Beijing LG Electronics Chinese branch consumer incentive group.
In particular, Gyeonggi Province offers various types of medical tourism in the fields of gynecology, cosmetology, plastic surgery, spinal surgery, and heart surgery, and is striving to internationalize Gyeonggi’s medical services and boost the inflow of foreign patients.
Not only do tourists visit Gyeonggi to observe and inspect its excellent medical facilities and advanced medical equipment, they also participate in actual health screenings for a more direct experience of the medical services offered to foreign medical tourists.
A representative of the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization said, “The Chinese market will serve as a foothold for boosting medical tourism, which can create high additional value.” He added, “The excellent medical facilities of the province and service satisfaction will result in a greater inflow of medical tourists.”
The foreign exchange earning rate of tourism products is significantly higher than those of other industries, being 2.5 times that of semiconductors, 1.4 times that of TV, and 1.3 times higher than the average for all industries combined.
The effect of attracting twenty-two foreign tourists is revealed to be the equivalent of exporting one vehicle (mid-size car class).
According to the Korea Tourist Service, some 7.81 million people visited Korea in 2011, generating USD 9.3 billion in revenue. This is equivalent to the exportation of 600,000 mid-size cars, and is estimated to have a production inducement effect of KRW 20.8 trillion and an additional value inducement effect of KRW 9.1 trillion.
Gyeonggi Province’s ambitious project to attract foreign tourists will soon become a pillar of the green growth industry of the future.
-5 renowned tour sites for foreigners recommended by the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization (www.kto.or.kr)
-Korean Folk Village www.koreanfolk.co.kr
-Everland Resort www.everland.com
-Daejanggeum Theme Parkwww.imbc.com/entertain/mbcticket/mbcplay/2004/daejanggumtheme
-Seoul Land www.seoulland.co.kr
-Panmunjeom (Joint Security Area) www.tourdmz.com
Written by Han Ho-sik reporter
