'Korea needs to increase inbound flights, offer local experiences'

Lonely Planet spokesman says country has merits to draw foreign tourists

By Kang Seung-woo

While Asian countries are scrambling to become global travel hotspots in the region, Korea is still struggling with appealing to foreign tourists.

For example, Japan, the neighboring country, drew more than 30 million foreign tourists in 2018, but Korea saw only 15 million.

Thus, the Lonely Planet Asia-Pacific spokesman advises the “Land of Morning Calm” to position itself as being value for money and a destination showcasing unique local experiences beyond its capital to become as competitive a tourist attraction as Japan.

“I think I can use Australia as an example here. The volume of flights that go to Japan is extraordinary. We have flights going multiple times per day and per airline in and out, which brings the price down, so all of sudden, international travel (to Japan) becomes much more accessible to a wide variety of customers,” Chris Zeiher said in an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, last week.

The Australian made a visit to Korea to give a lecture at the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and promote a revised edition of Lonely Planet Korea and Seoul.

“What we are experiencing is people that are saying 'I am not going to go to Thailand' and 'I am not going to go to Vietnam,' but 'I am going to choose to go to Japan because I have the price come down and I have an easy access,' whereas for Korea there are very limited flights in and out of Australia as my example.

“So I think one of the things that is interesting is, we see when destinations absolutely become popular (it) is because there is much more access into destinations and prices become much more affordable.”

Citing the growing number of Americans traveling to Iceland thanks to affordable price and easy access, Zeiher added: “If you could get more flights coming into not just Seoul but beyond Seoul to Busan or other places, I think that could become very interesting from a Western perspective.”

Zeiher, who doubles as regional sales and marketing director at the travel guide book publisher, also said that Korea needs to promote itself as a destination that offers travelers an abundance of unique and once-in-a-lifetime experiences that are connected to respective local cultures, which the Japanese government is good at.

“The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) does a lot of work on promoting local areas. They actually look at prefectures and they really promote each one as distinct, so they are very active on showing the diversity of experiencing Japan,” he said, adding that Japan has been clever at saying this is the country which has a wide variety of experiences.

He also said Japan is good at promoting itself as an all-year-round destination, with skiing in winter, cherry blossoms in spring and great autumn colors. “So there are a lot of reasons to visit, not just once a year maybe multiple times a year, so they have been very clever at that,” Zeiher said, adding the KTO could potentially do so.

Korea's selling points

The spokesman said Korea still has a massive opportunity to draw international tourists.

“I think a lot of Western audiences saw how friendly, how safe and how beautiful Korea was because we were exposed to Korea for two full weeks of the Winter Olympics (in February 2018),” he said.

“I think safety is ― in particular ― a key for family travels and for people that have not necessarily traveled as frequently as others. I think Korea could be seen or potentially seen as somewhere that is a little bit more intrepid and requires a little bit more information whereas when you get here realize that is not the case at all.”

Zeiher also said the selling point of traveling in Korea is compactness and friendliness shown by Koreans to foreign tourists.

“It is very easy to get around and I think that becomes something that is very attractive to a lot of customers and travelers,” he said.

“I think the Koreans we have experienced are incredibly polite. In particular, we find it very easy to get directions when we have been slightly out of place, so I think that is a really great opportunity for Koreans to show their hospitality to the rest of the world and really shows that you are very welcoming to travelers. I think that becomes appealing to travelers.”