Korea, Japan seek new chapter in 40 years of tourism ties
Mokpo Port in Mokpo, Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City / Korea Times file
Korea and Japan are marking four decades of tourism cooperation this week with talks in Mokpo aimed at turning a long record of exchanges into deeper regional partnerships.
The 40th Korea-Japan Tourism Promotion Council and Korea-Japan Tourism Business Forum are being held Wednesday and Thursday at Hotel Hyundai by Lahan Mokpo, bringing together about 100 government, tourism and aviation officials from both countries.
The council was established in 1986 and has alternated between Korea and Japan, with one postponement in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kang Jeong-won, head of tourism policy at Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Ken Sasaji, director-general of international tourism at the Japan Tourism Agency, are leading their respective delegations.
The officials are discussing ways to expand tourism between Korea and Japan while working together to attract travelers from outside the region.
The two sides also plan to sign an agreement expressing their intent to pursue a memorandum of cooperation on tourism, seeking a more stable institutional foundation for future collaboration.
The business forum will focus on attracting international visitors, revitalizing regional tourism and expanding travel between Korea and Japan, with representatives from airlines, travel companies and academia discussing joint tourism products linking destinations in both countries.
Korea and Japan are both close neighbors and partners in attracting visitors from beyond Asia, adding that future cooperation should extend tourism exchanges into local communities, the organizations said.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.