By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Three tourists stepped up to break wood panels after university students presented a taekwondo performance at Kukkiwon, also known as the World Taekwondo Headquarters, in Gangnam District, Tuesday. They doubted their power, but all three successfully broke the panels.
``I actually did it!'' said Xu Na, 27 of China, who was one of them. A resident in Korea since 2006, Xu joined a tour following the advice of her Korean instructor at Yeoksam Global Village Center. ``I've been living in Seoul for a long time, but I haven't seen much of the city yet and it is a nice opportunity for sightseeing at a reasonable price.''
A professional tour guide gives background information on the bus while moving from site to site. ``Taekwondo is the most popular attraction for foreign tourists. They can go visit temples and royal tombs in other places, but watching a taekwondo performance is the unique part of this program,'' says Lee Min-hwa, 28, the tour guide in charge of the Gangnam tour. ``Generally, tourists to Seoul only visit palaces and other tourist attractions on the north side of the Han River. But this program gives them a chance to experience the Gangnam area.''
Started in September 2008, the Gangnam tour is gaining popularity. Co-organized by Gangnam District Office and tour company Cosmonjin, the bus tour was offered once a week originally, but is now offered twice ― on Tuesday and Friday. In addition to the regular itinerary, experience programs such as kimchi making are available upon group reservation.
``We usually have an average of 22 tourists per tour. The number has decreased slightly due to the recent influenza and North Korea's threat,'' an official of Cosmojin said. ``We try to make the tour different from the general Seoul tour and include an old-style market at Eunma Apartments and Kukkiwon.''
The tour consists of two courses _ the morning tour visits Seonjeong Royal Tomb, Gangnam-gu office, Kukkiwon and Bongeunsa Temple, while the afternoon tour goes to the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation, Rodeo Street in Apgujeong-dong, galleries in Cheongdam-dong or Eunma Apartments market and the Kimchi Museum in the COEX. Each course costs 10,000 won per person and tourists can take a full-day tour combining two of them.
Generally, the tour is provided in English, but Japanese and Chinese are also available upon request.
The main target of the program is businessmen and their families who visit the Gangnam area for business and want to take a quick tour during their free time, according to the tour agency. ``We publicize the program at conventions and hotels to find a niche market,'' the agency official said. ``We also receive many guests from other Asian regions due to the Korean wave, or hallyu.''
The district wants to show more of its charms by expanding the tour service with more routes. ``We plan to create a tour program that focuses on hallyu stars since many entertainment agencies and star-related buildings such as Gorilla in the Kitchen owned by Bae Yong-jun are in our district,'' Kim Seong-hoi, the district's public information official said. ``We are also exploring the possibility of connecting Japanese group tourists to the Gangnam tour.''