Lifestyle - The Korea Times

JW Marriott Hotel Seoul presents Yut-Nori with Black Tiger package

JW Marriott Hotel Seoul presents a Yut-Nori with Black Tiger package from this Friday to Feb. 6 to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Courtesy of JW Marriott Hotel SeoulBy Lee Hae-rinIn celebration of the year of the black tiger, JW Marriott Hotel Seoul marks the beginning of the lunar year with the Yut-Nori with Black Tiger package, a promotion curated for families celebrating the nation's biggest holiday together.Yut-Nori is a traditional Korean family board game played during the Lunar New Year. The yut sticks are long wooden sticks split into halves that are used like dice. Players take turns to throw them into the air and can move tokens on the board depending on the number of sticks facing upwards. The goal of the game is to bring all the tokens back to the starting point.The package features four yut-shaped baguettes, a yut board, and tiger-face tokens handcrafted by the hotel's pastry team for a novel family game experience. The package also includes two glasses of Black Tiger Guinness, created by master mixologists at the hotel's seventh-floor MOBO Bar.Guests will be given a luck

Jan 27, 2022

JW Marriott Hotel Seoul presents Yut-Nori with Black Tiger package

More than 200,000 travelers expected to visit Jeju during Lunar New Year holiday

A member of the 2021 Jeju World Heritage Festival takes a photo on the walking trail called the “Breath of Fire Trail” during a press tour held to promote the festival on Jeju Island, July 9, 2021. More than 200,000 people are expected to travel to Jeju Island during the Lunar New Year holiday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukMore than 200,000 people are expected to travel to Jeju Island during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday despite growing concerns over the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, according to travel industry officials Tuesday.According to the Jeju Tourism Association, the number of visitors to the resort island during the extended holiday period, from Saturday to Feb. 2, is expected to reach 207,000, up 35.2 percent from a year ago.The number of scheduled Jeju-bound flights during the period reached 1,244, up 5.9 percent compared with the volume of flights during regular, non-holiday periods.The rate of room reservations at top tier hotels on the island stood at around 70 percent, and that of stand-alone vacation cabins that offer relatively con

Jan 25, 2022

More than 200,000 travelers expected to visit Jeju during Lunar New Year holiday

Air Busan opens Busan-Saipan route despite pandemic

gettyimagesbank Air Busan, a budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines, said Monday it has opened a Busan-Saipan route following a travel bubble agreement.On Sunday, Air Busan began to offer one flight per week on the Saipan route to preemptively respond to pent-up travel demand amid rising vaccinations and eased virus curbs, the company said in a statement.A travel bubble refers to a quarantine-free travel partnership between two or more cities or countries with similar levels of COVID-19 cases.On top of five domestic routes, the company offers flights on two international routes from the southern port city of Busan to Qingdao and Saipan, sharply down from 25 international routes before the pandemic hit the airline industry. It has 25 A321 chartered planes, but half of them are parked due to the prolonged pandemic. (Yonhap)

Jan 24, 2022

Air Busan opens Busan-Saipan route despite pandemic

Gordon Ramsay's lavish burger store in Seoul attracts celebrities

People queue to enter Gordon Ramsay Burger at Lotte World Mall in Seoul's Songpa District, Jan. 7, when the restaurant opened to the public. NewsisBy Ko Dong-hwanBritish star chef Gordon Ramsay's burger joint “Gordon Ramsay Burger” at Lotte World Mall in Seoul has attracted YouTube influencers, a famous comedienne as well as a rambunctious CEO who shared their mouth-watering experiences online.They visited the restaurant that opened to the public Jan. 7 after running a pre-opening event from Dec. 30 that saw 2,000 reserved guests. The pre-opening reservation event began Dec. 20, and its limited seats were completely booked within 30 minutes. The influencers ate the restaurant's pricey burgers which started at more than 30,000 won ($25) and ran as expensive as 140,000 won. Such lavish price tags apparently provoked not just high-profile foodies with an army of online followers but also anyone interested in choice burgers to give it a try. YouTuber “Tzuyang” with 5.26 million followers posted a video Jan. 12 showing herself ordering the entire menu there, grabbi

Jan 13, 2022By Ko Dong-hwan

Gordon Ramsay's lavish burger store in Seoul attracts celebrities

Park Hyatt Seoul finds success with agility, originality

By Lee Hae-rinAndrew Ashdown, the general manager at Park Hyatt Seoul / Courtesy of Park Hyatt SeoulThe COVID-19 pandemic has brought changes to every business sector and urban tourism is no exception. As a result of strengthened social distancing measures and minimized human contact, the latest trend in the hotel industry is to depend less on location as a travel destination than on its originality.Park Hyatt Seoul, located in the center of the business and entertainment district of Gangnam in southern Seoul, has successfully adapted to new trends, according to Andrew Ashdown, the new general manager of the property, by quickly shifting its target clientele and developing original experiences.“Before the advent of COVID-19, we had a high proportion of foreign guests thanks to the World of Hyatt membership program and Hyatt brand loyalty. Since the pandemic began, the game has changed completely. We have rapidly shifted to a marketing strategy targeting Korean leisure guests,” Ashdown said in a recent written interview with The Korea Times.Based on the growing domestic de

Jan 13, 2022By Lee Hae-rin

Park Hyatt Seoul finds success with agility, originality

Instant noodle exports hit new high in first 11 months of 2021 amid pandemic

A shopper picks up instant noodles at a retail outlet in Seoul, in this August 2016 file photo. YonhapExports of instant noodles reached an all-time high in the first 11 months of 2021 on their growing global popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Monday.South Korea exported $607.9 million worth of instant noodles, or "ramyeon" in Korean, in the January-November period, up 10.6 percent from the same period of 2020, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources.Last year's bumper record was attributed to the global popularity of Korean-made instant noodles as an emergency food in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that forced people to stay home.Also responsible were strong overseas shipments of "chapaguri," a signature noodle dish made popular by the Oscar-winning film "Parasite," according to the sources.China was the largest overseas market with exports reaching $133.42 million.The United States came next with $70.76 million, followed by Japan with $58.77 million, Taiwan with $29.18 million and the Philippines with $25.96 million. (Yonhap)

Jan 10, 2022

Instant noodle exports hit new high in first 11 months of 2021 amid pandemic

Korea's kimchi exports set new record

Getty ImagesBy Kang Hyun-kyung South Korea's kimchi exports last year reached a record-high of $159.9 million with a 19.2 million surplus, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.It's the first time for the nation to see a surplus in kimchi trade since 2009. South Korea also imports kimchi mainly from China. According to the agriculture ministry, kimchi exports have grown annually 18 percent in the past five years. Over the past five years, the number of importing nations has increased from 61 countries in 2016 to 89 countries last year. The popularity of Korean pop music and dramas overseas is believed to be one of the factors that boosted the growth of kimchi exports as overseas hallyu fans' interest in Korean food has grown. The agriculture ministry said it would continue to make efforts to increase kimchi exports while putting an equal emphasis on discovering other food and agricultural products that can be exported.

Jan 9, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung

Gangneung combines regional heritage with breathtaking landscape

Seen is the outdoor deck on the upper floor at Haslla Art World in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Dec. 22. Located on a hillside, the ocean view from the upper floor creates harmony with the art pieces there. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Lee Hae-rinGANGNEUNG, Gangwon Province ― If one asks what the favorite holiday destination of Koreans is, Gangwon Province always ranks high. Although less known than Seoul, Busan and Jeju Island among foreign travelers, the province's largest coastal city, Gangneung, offers the rustic charms of the countryside.Fortunately, Gangneung is easily accessible. A quick 90-minute ride on a KTX train from Seoul Station leads to the coastal city on the eastern end of the Korean Peninsula. Cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than the capital area, the city presents a picturesque landscape of both mountains and ocean, as well as a rich blend of traditional heritage with leading trends in arts and culture.Most of all, the city is getting ready to welcome foreign travelers once the borders reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic ends, through the supp

Jan 6, 2022By Lee Hae-rin

Gangneung combines regional heritage with breathtaking landscape

Wine imports jump 76% in 2021 amid pandemic

gettyimagesbankSouth Korea's wine imports soared over 70 percent in 2021 as more people enjoyed drinking at home and alone amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Wednesday.Asia's fourth-largest economy imported $506.2 million worth of wine in the January to November period of last year, up 76 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources.It marks the first time that the country's wine imports have surpassed the $500 million level.South Korea's wine imports have been on a steady rise ― they came to $244 million in 2018 before rising to $259.3 million in 2019 and $332 million in 2020.Industry sources said wine imports soared as people preferred drinking by themselves at home instead of going to bars amid the coronavirus pandemic.France was the largest exporter of wine to South Korea with $162.6 million, followed by the United States with $81.6 million, Chile with $68.6 million and Spain with $37.9 million.The data also showed South Korea's whisky imports hitting a five year high of $154.3 million in the 11-month period, up 37.4

Jan 5, 2022

Wine imports jump 76% in 2021 amid pandemic

Foreign travelers to Korea expected to be below 1 million in 2021

A man looks at the decorations for the coming 2022 Year on New Year's Eve in Seoul, Dec. 31. AP-YonhapThe number of foreign tourists who visited South Korea last year is expected to have fallen below the 1 million mark due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.The data from the state-run Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) showed 877,000 foreigners visited the country from January to November, down 64.3 percent from a year earlier.Considering that only 94,000 foreigners visited the country in November, it is certain the yearly tally of foreign tourist arrivals fell below 1 million for the first time since 1984 when data began to be compiled in 1984. The previous low was 129,700 recorded that year.The slump was attributed to strict travel restrictions imposed by countries around the world as the pandemic continued for nearly two years.Tourists from China nose-dived 76.6 percent on-year to 159,000 in the 11-month period, with those from Japan tumbling 96.7 percent to 14,000 from a year earlier. In comparison, 5,514,000 tourists came to visit Korea from China during the same period in 2019.Th

Jan 4, 2022

Travel & Food