Korea Tourism Organization partners with Southeast Asian firms to draw more visitors
Foreign tourists visit the Myeong-dong shopping area in Jung District, Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
Korea’s national tourism agency has secured major promotional agreements with leading Southeast Asian online travel platforms, airlines and financial institutions as part of an aggressive push to convert growing regional interest in Korean culture into actual travel bookings.
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said Monday that President Park Sung-hyeuck led a delegation to Jakarta and Manila from Tuesday to Saturday to expand the country’s footprint in Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing outbound travel markets.
The sales drive comes as tourism from the region surges. Visitor arrivals from Indonesia reached 330,629 through September, a 23.4 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the Philippines remains Korea’s top source of tourists in Southeast Asia, with arrivals rising 15.6 percent year-over-year following a record 615,141 visitors last year.
To capitalize on the momentum, the agency signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday with Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s dominant online travel agency. Leveraging Traveloka’s commercial network across five countries, including Singapore and Malaysia, the two organizations aim to jointly attract 300,000 tourists to Korea over the next two years.
The delegation signed an agreement on Friday with Cebu Pacific Air, the Philippines’ largest low-cost carrier, to run joint promotional campaigns tied to a major K-pop concert scheduled in the Philippines next March. The initiative aims to drive independent travel and boost passenger traffic to Korea’s regional airports beyond Seoul.
The agency also partnered with major financial institutions to streamline travel bookings and financial transactions. A pact with Bank Central Asia, Indonesia’s largest private lender, will offer targeted card promotions and payment perks for travel to Korea. In Manila, a partnership with BDO Unibank will target family travel, linking card benefits with simplified Korean visa procedures.
"This sales initiative successfully turned regional interest in Korea into real travel demand through close cooperation with local market leaders," Park said. "We will continue expanding multi-faceted partnerships with global corporations to grow inbound visitor numbers while driving qualitative growth and regional tourism."
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.