Two groups totaling 8,000 employees from a Chinese company will visit South Korea this month and taste Korean traditional ginseng chicken soup at one of the city's riverside parks, the Seoul city government said Wednesday.
The tour groups from Chinese health care company Joymain Science & Technology (Zhongmai Group) will arrive in Seoul on Thursday and next Tuesday on an incentive trip, and have a "samgyetang" dinner on the banks of the Han River in central Seoul on the following days, the metropolitan government said.
Samgyetang is a traditional chicken soup made with a whole young chicken stuffed with ginseng, sticky rice and garlic. It is widely recognized in the country as an energy-boosting meal during the summer months.
The government said hundreds of dinner tables will be set up for the guests, who will also be served beer, kimchi and drinks made from ginseng.
After the dinners, artists who participated on the original soundtracks of the South Korean hit television series "Descendants of the Sun" will hold a concert.
The government earlier allowed Zhongmai employees to receive visas through a simple online procedure as part of efforts to lure more Chinese mass tour groups.
In recent years, Chinese firms have been sending thousands of employees to South Korea on incentive trips.
In March, 6,000 employees from Aolan International Beauty Group, a cosmetics and health supplements company based in China's southern province of Guangzhou, came for a weeklong tour, followed by another 4,200 from a Shanghai-based financial group who visited last month.
The number of Chinese visitors to South Korea rose 17 percent in the first two months of the year to 1.07 million on the back of the growing popularity of South Korean TV shows and K-pop.
This month's visit was arranged by the city government, along with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and other related government agencies that have been promoting the export of samgyetang.
"A huge marketing effect is expected as foreign press, as well as the Chinese media, are paying attention to the event," said Kim Eui-seung, a senior city official. "We are putting utmost efforts to minimize inconveniences to ordinary citizens." (Yonhap)